Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
Werner Kördel, et al.
Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 2009
Vol. 28, Issue 1, pp. 51–63
Within a substance-oriented concept in environmental testing (e.g., the European legislation on chemical—REACH—or pesticide and biocide registration) or a preventive approach to environmental protection, the occurrence, fate, and exposure processes and the adverse effects imposed by toxicants have to be elucidated and assessed. This means having to consider processes that depend on the properties of the substance, the properties of the environmental compartments, and the habitat and sensitivity of the organisms tested. To derive tolerable concentrations of substances (pollutants) in environmental compartments (e.g., soils or sediments), it is necessary to measure both intrinsic properties and extrinsic response functions.
The concept of reference matrices does not deal with the “static” physical and chemical properties of a matrix but with dynamic functions (e.g., transformation, sorption or desorption, transport and effects on fauna and flora). It is important to mention that reference matrices are designed for laboratory testing. This means matrices are sampled in a specific environmental compartment, treated, stored, and characterized. By this, the original sample becomes a specific lot of a reference entity (e.g., a true soil). The idea behind the reference system is to reduce the complexity of the natural environment to a level where it becomes controllable from an experimental point of view without losing the ability to commute the results obtained back to the reality of the original environment.
The concept supports standardization in measurement and testing of chemicals in the environmental or in biological systems, thus leading to:
comparability of experimental data
traceability to the common reference point, thus introducing the notion of quality control over measurement and testing
the ability to extrapolate laboratory findings to the “real world” or the natural environment by using models
The concepts and the philosophy of reference matrices were developed within the IUPAC project on reference soils, and their feasibility was proven using this example. Well-defined reference matrices offer interesting perspectives for increasing environmental realism in chemical risk assessment. The legislation and regulation of various groups of biologically active substances, such as pesticides, biocides, and pharmaceuticals, and the new chemical regulation (REACH) emphasizes the need to have available well-defined reference matrices. This need parallels the need to test environmental fate and effects and new materials (e.g., artificially produced nanomaterials).
The concept that we outline provides suitable guidelines for selecting reference matrices. However, we note that agreement on optimal application of reference matrices and interpretation of results obtained in tests using reference matrices needs to be reached between scientists, risk assessors, reference laboratories, and international standard organizations.
For more information and comments, contact Werner Kördel <werner.koerdel@ime.fraunhofer.de>; Willie Peijnenburg <wjgm.peijnenburg@rivm.nl>; or Bernd Gawlik <bernd.gawlik@jrc.it>.
Page last modified 1 July 2009.
Copyright © 2003-2009 International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry.
Questions regarding the website, please contact edit.ci@iupac.org
© 2014 by Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co.
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- From the Editor
- Contents
- Did You Say IUPAC? What’s That?
- Maria Skłodowska Curie–Madame Curie: From Poland to France, from France to Poland
- Colloid and Interface Science: Alive and Kicking at the 30th Anniversary of IACIS
- Nanotechnology: An Answer to the World’s Water Crisis?
- REACH: Toward the Safer Management of Chemicals*
- Sweet Chemistry
- Discovery of the Element with Atomic Number 112
- 2009 Winners of the IUPAC Prizes for Young Chemists Announced
- RSC Acquires ChemSpider
- Marking the Centenary of Houben-Weyl
- PI-IUPAC Award 2009–Call for Nominations
- Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members
- Chemistry Research Funding
- Methods of Measurement and Evaluation of Natural Antioxidant Capacity/Activity
- Development of a Pesticide Ecological Risk Assessment and Training Module
- Basic Guidelines for Polymer Nomenclature
- Laboratory Test Terminology Trial-Run Begins
- Provisional Recommendations
- Thermodynamic and Thermophysical Properties of the Reference Ionic Liquid: 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluorome-thyl)sulfonyl]amide
- Glossary of Terms Used in Ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
- Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
- Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
- Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques
- Arsenic Pollution and Remediation: An International Perspective
- Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature, IUPAC Recommendations 2008
- The IUPAC Green Book in Japanese
- Sustainable Water
- Biopesticides
- Molecular Environmental Soil Science
- The Transmediterranean Colloquium on Heterocyclic Chemistry
- Green Chemistry
- Mark Your Calendar
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Masthead
- From the Editor
- Contents
- Did You Say IUPAC? What’s That?
- Maria Skłodowska Curie–Madame Curie: From Poland to France, from France to Poland
- Colloid and Interface Science: Alive and Kicking at the 30th Anniversary of IACIS
- Nanotechnology: An Answer to the World’s Water Crisis?
- REACH: Toward the Safer Management of Chemicals*
- Sweet Chemistry
- Discovery of the Element with Atomic Number 112
- 2009 Winners of the IUPAC Prizes for Young Chemists Announced
- RSC Acquires ChemSpider
- Marking the Centenary of Houben-Weyl
- PI-IUPAC Award 2009–Call for Nominations
- Election of IUPAC Officers and Bureau Members
- Chemistry Research Funding
- Methods of Measurement and Evaluation of Natural Antioxidant Capacity/Activity
- Development of a Pesticide Ecological Risk Assessment and Training Module
- Basic Guidelines for Polymer Nomenclature
- Laboratory Test Terminology Trial-Run Begins
- Provisional Recommendations
- Thermodynamic and Thermophysical Properties of the Reference Ionic Liquid: 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium bis[(trifluorome-thyl)sulfonyl]amide
- Glossary of Terms Used in Ecotoxicology (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
- Glossary of Terms Related to Pharmaceutics (IUPAC Recommendations 2009)
- Reference Matrices: An Essential Tool for Testing Extrinsic Substance Properties
- Comprehensive Inter-Laboratory Calibration of Reference Materials for δ18O Versus VSMOW Using Various On-Line High-Temperature Conversion Techniques
- Arsenic Pollution and Remediation: An International Perspective
- Compendium of Polymer Terminology and Nomenclature, IUPAC Recommendations 2008
- The IUPAC Green Book in Japanese
- Sustainable Water
- Biopesticides
- Molecular Environmental Soil Science
- The Transmediterranean Colloquium on Heterocyclic Chemistry
- Green Chemistry
- Mark Your Calendar
