BIOMONITORING OF POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC-HYDROCARBONS IN HIGHLY EXPOSED COKE PLANT WORKERS BY MEASUREMENT OF URINARY PHENANTHRENE AND PYRENE METABOLITES (PHENOLS AND DIHYDRODIOLS)

A filter combination consisting of an impregnated glass fibre and a co ntrol filter was used for the collection of air samples in which gaseo us and particulate polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were determ ined. To estimate the loss of lower boiling PAHs, d10-phenanthrene was applied as internal standard. A simple, well-reproducible method for the determination of 1-, 2-, 3-, 4- and 9-hydroxyphenanthrene, 1,2-, 3 ,4- and 9,10-dihydroxydihydrophenanthrene, 1-hydroxypyrene and 1,2-dih ydroxy-1,2-dihydropyrene is described. By means of personal air sample rs the exposure to PAHs of four coke plant employees working at differ ent locations was measured over 4 days. Simultaneously the 24-h urine was collected and stored frozen until analysed. The main excretion pro duct of pyrene is a 1-hydroxypyrene conjugate, whereas phenanthrene is excreted predominantly as dihydrodiol conjugate. As expected, workers on the battery topside were exposed the most and accordingly excreted by far the highest amounts of PAHs. Up to 34.0 mug phenanthrol conjug ates (total of all isomeric phenols) and 195.5 mug dihydrodiol conjuga tes (total of all isomeric dihydrodiols) were excreted in the 24-h uri ne (mean of 4 days). The metabolite profiles of five isomeric phenanth rene phenols and three isomeric dihydrodiols exhibited only small perc entage variations within one individual whereas significant' interindi vidual differences were observed. These findings may indicate a geneti cally determined enzyme pattern responsible for the metabolic conversi on of PAHs.