Undecan-1-ol

Toxicity to microorganisms

Description of key information

Inhibition of WWTP microorganisms (Undecan-1-ol): no significant inhibitory effects on respiration of activated sludges or specific microbial strains relevant to WWTP, at or above the limit of solubility (based on inhibition tests and lack of toxicity in ready biodegradability tests).

Key value for chemical safety assessment

EC10 or NOEC for microorganisms:

10 000 mg/L

Additional information

In accordance with Column 2 of REACH Annex VIII, the activated sludge respiration inhibition study (required in Section 9.1.4 of REACH) does not need to be conducted as the substance is readily biodegradable and the applied test concentrations are in the range that can be expected in the influent to a sewage treatment plant. Reliable studies are available, for the species Pseudomonas putida. The close structural analogues decan-1 -ol and dodecan-1-ol both have EC₀ of 10000 mg/l and the longer-chain analogue octadecan-1-ol has EC₀ of 10000 mg/l in the same types of study; i.e. the EC₅₀ is greater than the limit of solubility. Undecan-1-ol is expected to have consistent lack of inhibition to WWTP microorganisms.

This is supported by results of non-assignable reliability studies with shorter chain-lengths within the C6 -24 Alcohols Category, indicating EC₅₀ in the hundreds of mg/l (in some cases, up to and exceeding the limit of solubility) for respiration of a mixed microbial culture. Additionally, consistent results (ECx >= 10000 mg/l) are reported in the public domain for tetradecanol and C12 -14 mixed alcohols, although original studies were not available from the data owner.

 

Discussion of trends in the Category of C6-24 linear and essentially-linear aliphatic alcohols:

 

A number of studies of the toxicity of LCAAs to single species of micro-organisms have been identified. A range of results are shown in Table 7.21 of the Category CSR, for test species relevant to WWTP (studies on various other organisms are also available).

 

The ready biodegradation studies (Federle, 2009 and Flach, 2012, discussed in Section 5.2.1) gives evidence that rapid biodegradation by aquatic activated sludge microorganisms is seen, even in the presence of an excess of test substance (for the longer chain length category members tested). It is notable that the biodegradation in the ready test was very high compared to ThCO₂, indicating that over the course of the test the exposure of organisms to test substance must have been complete.

 

At or above the limit of solubility, the data set shows that the alcohols in the chain length range C6-24 category have no significant inhibitory effects on respiration of activated sludges or specific microbial strains relevant to WWTP. There is limited evidence of inhibition of growth in some specific microbial strains but ready biodegradation evidence suggests this is not significant for mixed populations.

The reliability of some of these data individually is not high, but it presents a consistent weight of evidence.

 

In general it can be said that the micro-organisms examined in these tests were less susceptible to the LCAAs than fish, invertebrates and algae and that in general, IC₅₀values for respiration effects are at or significantly above the limit of water solubility.

 

WWTP microorganisms have been demonstrated to be capable of synthesising significant concentrations of aliphatic alcohols (e.g. Mudge et al., 2008).

Table: Micro-organism toxicity for species of potential relevance to WWTP systems

CAS	Chemical Name	Comment	Water solubility (mg/L)	Species	Endpoint	Result (mg/L)	Effect	Reliability	Reference
111-27-3	Hexan-1-ol		6320	Pseudomonas putida	16-hr Toxicity Threshold (TT)	62	Cell multiplication (similar to ISO 10712)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1980
111-27-3	Hexan-1-ol		6320	Uronema parduczi	EC0	93	Not stated	4	Verschueren, 1996
111-27-3	Hexan-1-ol		6320	P. putida	30 min EC10	3000	Cell multiplication (DIN 38412 Part 8)	4	Henkel unpublished
111-27-3	Hexan-1-ol		6320	P. putida	16-hr EC10	10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412 Part 27)	4	unreferenced; IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM
111-70-6	Heptan-1-ol	Supporting	1410	P. putida	16-hr Toxicity Threshold (TT)	67	Cell multiplication (similar to ISO 10712)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1980
111-70-6	Heptan-1-ol	Supporting	1410	U. parduczi	EC0	17	Not stated	4	Verschueren, 1996
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	P. putida	16-hr Toxicity Threshold (TT)	>50	Cell multiplication (similar to ISO 10712)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1980
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Chilomonas paramecium	48 h EC5	>20	Cell multiplication	4	Verschueren, 1996
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	U. parduczi	20 h TGK 5%	23	Cell multiplication	4	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1980
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Clostridium acetobutylicum(anaerobic)	6-h EC50	130.3	Growth	4	Izardet al., 1989
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Activated sludge	3 h EC50	350	Respiration (OECD 209)	4	Tanget al., 1990
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Activated sludge	EC50	325.6	Heat flux	4	Beaubienet al., 1985
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Activated sludge	24h EC50	200	Respiration (other methodology)	4	Tanget al., 1990
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	P. putida	30 min EC10	10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412 Part 27)	4	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1980 Henkel (undated)
111-87-5	Octan-1-ol		551	Mixed culture	75 min EC50	625	Respiration	4	Vaishnavet al., 1986
112-30-1	Decan-1-ol		39.5	P. putida	30-min. EC0	10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412 Part 27)	2	Henkel, 1999a
112-30-1	Decan-1-ol		39.5	Mixed microbial culture	75 min EC50	443	Respiration	4	Vaishnavet al., 1985
112-30-1	Decan-1-ol		39.5	P. putida	30 min EC0	10,000	Respiration	4	Henkel, unpublished
112-53-8	Dodecan-1-ol		2.07	P. putida	30-min. EC0	>10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	1	Henkel, 1994b
80206-82-2	C12-14 Alcohols	Supporting		P. putida	30 min EC0	>10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	4	Henkel unpublished
80206-82-2	C12-14 Alcohols	Supporting		P. putida	30 min EC0	10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	4	Henkel unpublished
112-72-1	Tetradecan-1-ol		0.191	P. putida	30 min EC50	>10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	4	Henkel unpublished
68002-94-8	C16-18 and C18 Unsaturated	Supporting		P. putida	30-min. EC10	>10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	2	Henkel, 1988a
112-92-5	Octadecan-1-ol		0.0011	P. putida	30-min.EC0	>10,000	Respiration (DIN 38412Part27)	1	Henkel, 1994c

References:

Bringmann, G. and Kuhn, R. 1980. Comparison of the toxicity thresholds of water pollutants to bacteria, algae, protozoa in the cell multiplication inhibition test.Water Research 14:231-241.

Verschueren, K. (ed.). 1996. Handbook of Environmental Data on Organic Chemicals. 3rd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Izardet al., 1989:  Appl. Microbiol. Biotechnol. 31, 179-183 (1989).

Tang, N.H.et al., J. Environ.Eng. (New York) 116, 1076-1084 (1990)

Beaubien, A.et al., Water Res. 19, 747-755 (1985)Beilstein On-Line database.

Vaishnav, D.D., Toxicity Assessment 1, 227-240 (1986)

Henkel KGaA.1999a. 1-Decanol: Acute toxicity bacteria. Unpublished results. Biological Research and Product Safety/Ecology. Test Substance Registration No. 7200.

Vaishnav, D.D. and Lopas, D.M. Dev. Industr. Microbiol. 26 (1985), 557-565

Henkel KGaA.1994b. Report-Nummer R 9400236. A. Kirch. Marz 1994.

Henkel KGaA. 1988a.Biological Research and Product Safety/Ecology. Test substance registration No. 6802. Bacterial toxicity.

Henkel KGaA. 1994c.1-Octadecanol: Sauerstoffzehrungshemmtest mit Bakterian. Abschlubericht. Report-Nummer R 9400049. A. Kirch. Januar 1994.

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (1), Archive-No. 7198 (no further details available); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (2); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (3), Final Report 882633 (no further details available); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (4), Registry No. 6801 (no further details available); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (5), File 427/1 (no further details available); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)

Henkel KGaA, unpublished data (6), Test No. 9300287 31; Final Report 9500603 (no further details available); cited in IUCLID 2000 CD-ROM (source documentation not available)