Primary aromatic amines in indoor dust from 10 countries and associated human exposure

Although primary aromatic amines (AAs) are widely used in consumer products, little is known about their occurrence in indoor dust. A liquid chromatography - tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method was applied for the determination of 29 AAs and two tobacco smoke markers (nicotine and cotinine) in 256 house dust samples collected from 10 countries. Of the 29 AAs analyzed, p-anisidine, o-anisidine, 2,6-dimethylaniline (2,6-DMA), p-cresidine (p-CD), p-toluidine (p-TD), 4,4'-methylenedianiline (4,4'-MDA), ortho/meta-toluidine (o/m-TD), 4-chloroaniline (4-CA), 2,4-diaminotoluene (2,4-DAT), aniline, and 2-naphthylamine (2-NA) as well as nicotine and cotinine, were found prevalent in house dust samples. Sum median concentrations of AAs and tobacco smoke markers varied from 29.6 to 576 ng/g (overall median: 200 ng/g) and 10.8 to 2920 ng/g (415 ng/g), respectively. Among AAs, aniline was the abundant contaminant, found at median concentrations ranging from 19.6 ng/g (Colombia) to 334 ng/g (South Korea). Nicotine was detected in all indoor samples at median concentrations ranging from 9.92 ng/g (Colombia) to 2790 ng/g (India) ng/g. Concentrations of AAs in indoor dust were significantly correlated with those of nicotine. Estimated daily intake (EDI) of select AAs through the ingestion of house dust was in the range of 0.019-3.03 ng/kg-bw/day, which was five orders of magnitude below the tolerance limits.

Automated summary

Primary aromatic amines (AAs) and tobacco smoke markers were found to be prevalent in indoor house dust samples from 10 countries, with concentrations varying significantly between countries. Aniline was identified as the most abundant contaminant among AAs, while nicotine was consistently detected in all indoor samples. Concentrations of AAs in house dust were strongly correlated with nicotine levels.