Aquatic organisms were monitored for their ability to incorporate trif
luoroacetate (TFA), an atmospheric breakdown product of HFC and HCFC r
efrigerants containing a trifluoromethyl moiety. Because of the struct
ural similarity of TFA to acetate, a biochemical intermediate and micr
obial nutrient, we suspected that organisms might use the fluorinated
compound to synthesize biomolecules such as lipids and acetylated prot
eins. We exposed aquatic organisms (microbial communities, oligochaete
s, macroinvertebrates, Callitriche sp., Lemna sp., and Impatiens capen
sis) to radioactive TFA ([C-14]F3COOH) and examined them for distribut
ion of radiolabel in different classes of biomolecules. The most label
was found in oligochaetes and I. capensis leaves at 3 and 6 mu g/g (a
s TFA), respectively, with the greatest proportion found in the protei
n fraction for each sample type. Aerobic microorganisms incorporated o
nly a small fraction of the label (a few nanograms per gram as TFA), a
nd the greatest proportion of label occurred in cell wall material. We
have demonstrated that selected aquatic organisms spanning a range of
trophic levels incorporated the xenobiotic TFA into their biomolecule
fractions so that it was no longer extracted as TFA and thus was meta
bolically transformed.