Chemical reactivity theory to analyze possible toxicity of microplastics: Polyethylene and polyester as examples.

Publisher: Public Library of Science Country of Publication: United States NLM ID: 101285081 Publication Model: eCollection Cited Medium: Internet ISSN: 1932-6203 (Electronic) Linking ISSN: 19326203 NLM ISO Abbreviation: PLoS One Subsets: MEDLINE

Original Publication: San Francisco, CA : Public Library of Science

Polyethylene*/toxicity ; Microplastics*/toxicity; Plastics/toxicity ; Polyethylene Terephthalates/toxicity ; Polymers ; Oxidants

Micro- and nanoplastics are widespread throughout the world. In particular, polyethylene (PE) and polyethylene terephthalate or polyester (PET) are two of the most common polymers, used as plastic bags and textiles. To analyze the toxicity of these two polymers, oligomers with different numbers of units were used as models. The use of oligomers as polymeric templates has been used previously with success. We started with the monomer and continued with different oligomers until the chain length was greater than two nm. According to the results of quantum chemistry, PET is a better oxidant than PE, since it is a better electron acceptor. Additionally, PET has negatively charged oxygen atoms and can promote stronger interactions than PE with other molecules. We found that PET forms stable complexes and can dissociate the guanine-cytosine nucleobase pair. This could affect DNA replication. These preliminary theoretical results may help elucidate the potential harm of micro- and nanoplastics.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Martínez, Barbosa. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

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9002-88-4 (Polyethylene)
0 (Microplastics)
0 (Plastics)
0 (Polyethylene Terephthalates)
0 (Polymers)
0 (Oxidants)

Date Created: 20240306 Date Completed: 20240308 Latest Revision: 20240308

20240308

PMC10917325

10.1371/journal.pone.0285515

38446761