Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Burra, Radhika
• Fox, James D.
• Pradenas, Gonzalo A.
• Vásquez, Claudio C.
• Chasteen, Thomas G.

Titel

Biological interactions of selenocyanate: Bioprocessing, detection and toxicity

Ist Teil von

• Environmental technology, 2009-11, Vol.30 (12), p.1327-1335

Ort / Verlag

England: Taylor & Francis Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2009

Quelle

Taylor & Francis

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The selenocyanate anion, SeCN − , has been reported in wastewater from refineries whose petroleum comes from Se-rich marine shales. A metalloid-resistant bacterium was exposed to aqueous solutions of SeCN − to examine the relative toxicity of SeCN − , and the results were compared with the toxicity of selenate and selenite and another G16 metalloid oxyanion, tellurite. We also determined the volatile organo-selenium species produced by bacterial cultures amended with selenocyanate anion, and we investigated a solid phase preconcentration technique for collecting SeCN − from aqueous samples with different ionic strengths and subsequent detection using capillary electrophoresis. The relative toxicity of SeCN − is comparable to that of selenate and selenite using the metalloid-resistant bacterium LHVE as the test organism. Tellurite was more toxic at all concentrations examined than all three selenium-containing anions, SeO 4 2− , SeO 3 2− , SeCN − . Live cultures of LHVE amended with 1 mM NaSeCN produced volatile organo-sulphides and organo-selenides that could be collected in headspace using a solid phase microextraction fibre. The bioprocessing, i.e. the reduction and methylation of SeCN − , is similar to that of selenate and selenite by other metalloid-resistant bacteria. An aqueous 1.0 mM solution of SeCN − could be captured from solution on solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges using an aminopropyl-based stationary phase. Selenocyanate anions, slowly pumped into a wetted SPE cartridge, were trapped on the cartridge's solid phase and were subsequently eluted, thereby providing an increase in concentration above that of the original SeCN − -containing solution. Preconcentration factors of 3.9 were achieved using a mixed sodium hydroxide/methanol elution solvent and by adding NaCl to aqueous SeCN − before loading on the SPE cartridge.