INTRODUCTION:

Water Pollution and find out suitable rememdies are the one the major focussing is of environmental scientists.^1-13 Phenols are one of the classes of xenobiotic compounds which are present in nature as pollutant due to the disposal of industrial wastes.^14-18Phenol and phenolic compounds are used in the manufacture of dyes, drugs, plastics, resins, plywood industries etc. They are the main ingredients in the household disinfectants. Phenols are proved to be toxic to humans and animals. So the presence of phenolic compounds in the aquatic bodies is a real threat to human health and animal life. Lethal doses of phenols cause damage to the proper functioning of brain, liver, kidney etc. Phenols are proved to be a potent mutagen. The common symptoms of phenol poisoning are headaches, diarrhoea, vomiting, nausea etc. Phenols are also found to be a potent mutagen. They may cause severe neurotoxic effects on the functioning of pyramidal neurons.

Studies reveal that catechol and 2-chlorophenol make conformational changes in human growth hormones. Neoplasmic changes such as sarcoma, lymphoma, and lung cancer are also connected with phenol toxicity.

Phenols, especially catechols and dinitrophenols cause haemolysis in humans. Studies show that the one hour incubation of phenol (1,4,5-Tricholorophenol) with erythrocytes (discotic shape) converted them to their deformed echniocytes, thus by destroying their gas transporting capacity.

Perumbavoor, in Kerala, India is the area in which maximum number of plywood factories are operating. The chief adhesive used in plywood making are Phenol-Formaldehyde resins. Unfortunately, the industrial effluents are run into local water bodies without adequate treatment. This pollutes them with large amount of phenols and formaldehyde. Athira K. M. and Gigi K. Joseph have studied the effect of industrial waste effluents on the water quality parameters the pH, nitrate, phosphate, TDS, BOD and COD, copper, chromium and formaldehyde of the water bodies of Perumbavoor area.¹⁹But they have not done any study on the effect of phenol in polluting the water bodies. Later Arun et. al. studied the toxicity of phenols on fishes by preparing artificially polluting potable water in Laboratory (2020).²⁰Understanding the relevance of these studies, we have done an attempt to find out the amount of phenols from two different water bodies to which the effluents of plywood Industries near Perumbavoor town are run into. We have estimated the phenol content in these samples using the already reported colourimetric method.²¹It was found that in both the water samples, the amount of phenol was above lethal level (average LC50 concentration for the phenol intoxication for the fresh water fishes ranges between 28-30mg/L)^22-25severely polluting the water bodies and thus a threat to the health of aquatic animals and human beings.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Water samples for the study were collected from two different water bodies near plywood industries near Perumbavoor town, Ernakulam (Dist), Kerala, India. All the chemicals used were purchased from Merck India Ltd. UV-VIS Spectophotometer (ELICO SL 159) was used for spectroscopic studies.

The phenol in each water samples were estimated colour metrically using the reported procedure.²¹ This method is a modification of Liebermann's reaction using resorcinol as a chromogenic agent.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

100ml of water samples is transferred accurately into a separating funnel. Then it is saturated with sodium chloride. 0.1 N sodium hydroxide solution is added to the solution so that the pH is maintained in between 8-9. To the above solution 10ml of chloroform-ether mixture is added. The organic layer formed is transferred into a 250ml beaker followed by the addition of 5ml of 0.1N sodium hydroxide solution. This solution is transferred to a separating funnel, shaken well and the aqueous layer is extracted.

To the aqueous layer, 2.5ml of w/v sodium nitrite solution is added. Then, 2ml of 4N sulphuric acid is added. Mix well and allow standing until all the nitrous acid fumes are evolved. Sulphamic acid, about 4-5ml was added in drop wise to remove excess nitrous acid. 6ml of resorcinol reagent is added and mixed thoroughly. 10% sodium hydroxide solution is added and made up to the volume and measured the absorbance at 480nm The same procedure is adopted to the second water sample also.

The reaction products absorb at 480 nm. The colour formation is due to the formation of Deoxy- P- Benzoquinonyl B- Resorsalylimine or 5- Methyl – 1,2- Benzoquinonyl B- Resorsalylimine for Phenol and Cresol respectively.²¹

Aliquots of the dilute solution of phenol containing from 5 to 10mg of phenol is transferred to a1 litre volumetric flask and using distilled water. The contents of each flask is transferred into a 100ml separating funnel and derivatized as described for water sample. The absorbance of these solutions is noted (Table 1). A calibration graph is plotted taking the concentration in x-axis and absorbance values in the x-axis (Figure 1). Using this calibration graph and the absorbance value obtained from the water samples, the concentrations of phenol in the water samples was estimated and is tabulated in Table 2.

Table No.1: Standard Concentrations of Phenol and Corresponding Absorbance Values

S.No.	Concentration of phenol solution in (mg/ml)	Absorbance
1	5	0.600
2	6	0.640
3	7	0.683
4	8	0.713
5	9	0.736
6	10	0.783

Figure 1. Standard Calibration Curve for Phenol (5-10 mg/ml)

Table No.2: Absorbance and the Concentration values of Phenols in Water Samples

Sample	Absorbance	Concentration (Mg/Ml)	mg/L
Water sample I	0.713	8.0697	8069.7
Water sample II	0.745	8.9859	8985.9

The water sample collected from the industrial area contains high phenol content. On comparing both the samples, water sample-II contains more phenol than water sample-I. LC50 concentration of phenol for aquatic fishes was reported as 28.49 mg/L. In the present stud we can see that in both the water samples, the LC50 value is about 280 times greater than the lethal concentration revealing the severity of the pollution. A more detailed study is needed on this alarming issue.

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Received on 08.04.2022 Modified on 06.06.2022

Asian J. Research Chem. 2022; 15(5):311-313.

DOI: 10.52711/0974-4150.2022.00055