Identification and Quantification of Phthalate Pollution in Holothuria atra: A Sea Cucumber from the Persian Gulf (Iran)

In recent years, microplastics have accumulated in oceans and sediments worldwide. Due to their small size, microplastics may be ingested by low trophic fauna, with uncertain consequences for the health of the organism. Sea cucumbers are one of the major echinoderms from the class Holothuroidea that ingest plasticizers in their mouth and filter the water. Regarding the recent interests on probable pollution of medicinal plants and other natural medicines, like marine organisms to phthalates, in this study a phthalate ester was isolated from Holothuria atra of Persian coasts for the first time. The structure of the compound was elucidated using spectroscopic data (IR, NMR and MS) and the compound was used as a standard for quantification of microplastic in H. atra, a marker of pollutant in the Persian Gulf. Quantification was done by high performance thin layer chromatography and the amount of bis (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (BEHP) was 0.15 ± 0.08 mg/g.