New Method to Sample and Determine 4-AP in the Workplace Air

Abstract A significant number of workers in the pharmaceutical and chemical industries, hairdressers and photographers are exposed to 4-aminophenol in the work environment. Due to its harmful effects by inhalation and ingestion, the possibility of causing allergic skin reactions, genetic defects and possible endocrine disrupting effects, a limit for its inhalable fraction in the working environment has been set at 5 mg/m3 in Poland. It was therefore necessary to develop a new sampling method by passing 360 L of air at a flow rate of 2 l/min through a glass fibre filter placed in the inhalable fraction sampler. Different types of filters were tested to retain the inhalable fraction of 4-aminophenol, and solvents for its extraction from the filter. Finally, 4-aminophenol extracted from the filter with acetonitrile was analysed chromatographically. The method has good precision and accuracy and meets the requirements of European standard EN 482 for chemical agent determination procedures and it was pre-verified at a cosmetics manufacturing company. Graphical abstract