Tracing anthropogenic halogenated pollutants in European coastal waters

Halogenated chemicals containing fluorine, chlorine, bromine, or iodine and are widely used in industrial, medical, agricultural, and consumer products. Their chemical stability makes them useful, but can also cause them to resist biological and environmental degradation and persist in coastal ecosystems. HALOTRACE will develop a halogen-aware, high-throughput LC-MS protocol to investigate these pollutants across more than 1000 coastal water samples collected during the TREC expedition. Characteristic molecular-mass features, including isotope patterns and mass defects, will be used to identify candidate halogenated compounds, map their distribution, and detect potential pollution hotspots along the European coastline. Selected high-abundance, recurrent, or chemically unusual features will then be examined using ultra-high-resolution FT-ICR mass spectrometry and, where sufficient material is available, complementary NMR analysis. By combining large-scale screening with targeted structural investigation, HALOTRACE will provide new insight into the occurrence and fate of anthropogenic halogenated pollutants in European coastal waters.

Objectives:

• Structural elucidation of selected halogenated features using FT-ICR-MS and NMR

• Scalable LC-MS screening workflow for halogenated chemicals 

• Mapping diagnostic halogen signatures across European coastal-water samples 

• Validate and prioritise halogenated features using FT-ICR-MS