Octadecan-1-ol

Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

Link to relevant study record(s)

Reference

Endpoint:

short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates

Type of information:

experimental study

Adequacy of study:

key study

Study period:

1992-02-05 to 1992-02-07

Reliability:

2 (reliable with restrictions)

Rationale for reliability incl. deficiencies:

comparable to guideline study with acceptable restrictions

Remarks:

The study was conducted according to a national standard method, and in compliance with GLP. No analytical monitoring was carried out.

Qualifier:

according to guideline

Guideline:

other: German Industry Standard DIN 38412, Part 11; May 1984

Deviations:

not applicable

Qualifier:

equivalent or similar to guideline

Guideline:

OECD Guideline 202 (Daphnia sp. Acute Immobilisation Test)

Deviations:

yes

Remarks:

no range finding test, no analytical monitoring

Principles of method if other than guideline:

Method: other: German Industry Standard DIN 38412, Part 11

GLP compliance:

yes

Analytical monitoring:

not specified

Vehicle:

no

Details on test solutions:

PREPARATION AND APPLICATION OF TEST SOLUTION

- Method: test substance was weighed and applied directly into the test  vessels

Test organisms (species):

Daphnia magna

Details on test organisms:

TEST ORGANISM

- Strain: identical to that of BGA / WaBoLu

- Source: own breed

- Age at study initiation (mean and range, SD): not reported.

- Feeding during test: no



ACCLIMATION

- Acclimation period: bred in house

- Acclimation conditions (same as test or not): not reported.

- Type and amount of food: Chlorella kessleri, amount not reported

Test type:

static

Water media type:

freshwater

Limit test:

no

Total exposure duration:

48 h

Test temperature:

20-21 degC

pH:

average: 7.9-8.1

Dissolved oxygen:

90-100% saturation

Nominal and measured concentrations:

Nominal concentrations: 0, 10, 30, 100, 300 and 1000 mg/L.

Details on test conditions:

TEST SYSTEM

- Test vessel: not reported

- No. of vessels per concentration (replicates): 2

- No. of vessels per control (replicates): 2



TEST MEDIUM / WATER PARAMETERS

- Source/preparation of dilution water: synthetic water according to DIN 38412, Part 11

- Intervals of water quality measurement: pH and oxygen were measured at 24 and 48 h.


OTHER TEST CONDITIONS

- Adjustment of pH: not reported

- Photoperiod: not reported

- Light intensity: not reported


EFFECT PARAMETERS MEASURED (with observation intervals if applicable) : immobility at 24 and 48 h.

Reference substance (positive control):

no

Duration:

48 h

Dose descriptor:

EC0

Effect conc.:

1 000 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat.

Basis for effect:

other: immobility

Remarks on result:

other: non-toxic at the limit of solubility

Key result

Duration:

48 h

Dose descriptor:

EC50

Effect conc.:

1 700 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat.

Basis for effect:

other: immobility

Remarks on result:

other: non-toxic at the limit of solubility

Duration:

48 h

Dose descriptor:

EC100

Effect conc.:

3 000 mg/L

Nominal / measured:

nominal

Conc. based on:

test mat.

Basis for effect:

other: immobility

Remarks on result:

other: non-toxic at the limit of solubility

Details on results:

- Mortality of control: <10%

- Effect concentrations exceeding solubility of substance in test medium: yes, the effect of the test substance was determined at concentrations well above the limit of solubility of the test substance (0.0011 mg/L at 25 degC from SIDS dossier on 1-octadecanol, 1993b; Budavari, 1996).

Reported statistics and error estimates:

EC50 was calculated according to Stephan (square root of EC0 * EC100).

Table 1. Summary of findings.

Concentration mg/L	Replicate (#)	Mortality 24 h (%)	Mortality 48 h (%)
0	1	0	0
0	2	0	0
1000	1	0	0
1000	2	0	0
3,000	1	0	100
3,000	2	10	100
10,000	1	0	100
10,000	2	10	100

Effect data (Immobilisation): up to loadings of 1000 mg/l no immobilisation, at 3000 mg/l and 10000 mg/l 100% immobilisation.

Validity criteria fulfilled:

no

Remarks:

concentration tested above the Limit of Solubility.

Conclusions:

A 48h EC50 value of 1700 mg/L has been determined for the effects of octadecanol on the mobility of Daphnia magna. The EC50 was obtained at a concentration above the Limit of Solubility (LoS) and should be treated with caution. The water solubility of octadecanol is 0.0011 mg/L at 25oC [SIDS dossier on 1-octadecanol, 1993b; Budavari, 1996], therefore the LC50 value is >0.0011 mg/L (>LoS), i.e. the test substance was not toxic at the LoS.

Description of key information

Short-term toxicity to invertebrates: 48 h EC50 >0.0011 mg/L (>LoS) for the effects of the test substance on immobility of Daphnia magna, in accordance with test guideline OECD 202.

Additional information

A 48 h EC₅₀ value 1700 mg/L (nominal concentration) has been determined for the effects of octadecan-1-ol on immobility of Daphnia magna (Henkel, 1992).The water solubility of octadecan-1-ol is 0.0011 mg/L at 25˚C [SIDS dossier on 1-octadecanol, 1993b; Budavari, 1996], therefore the substance is non-toxic at the Limit of Solubility (LoS), i.e. >0.0011 mg/L (>LoS).

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

Linear LCAAs

The data presented in the table below show the toxicity of the linear LCAAs to increase from an EC₅₀ of 200 mg/L for C6 to 0.77 mg/L for C12. Effects have also been observed in tests with C13 and C14 LCAAs but at concentrations that exceeded the solubility of the alcohols. Although not explicitly identified in the test reports, physical effects (rather than true toxicity) cannot therefore be excluded from the interpretation of the results for these two LCAAs. In the Unilever (1994) study with C14 the authors have recorded that the test substance adhered to the daphnids at concentrations higher than the water solubility of 1-tetradecanol. This indicates that physical fouling is likely to have caused the effects seen at the EC₅₀ value of 4 mg/L.

 

The lowest reliable short-term EC/LC₅₀ values for invertebrates exposed to linear LCAAs are presented in the following table.

Table: Key studies for invertebrate short-term toxicity studies on single carbon chain length linear LCAAs.

CAS #	Chemical name	Comment	Water solubility (mg/L)	Species	Method/ Guideline	Exposure regime	Endpoint	Value (mg/L)^1	Reliability code	Reference
111-27-3	1-Hexanol		5900 at 20°C	Daphnia magna	Not specified	Static	24 h EC50	200 (n)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1982
111-70-6	1-Heptanol	SUPPORTING	1300 at 20°C	D. magna	Not specified	Static	24 h EC50	82 (n)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1982
111-87-5	1-Octanol		550 at 25°C	D. magna	Not specified	Static	24 h EC50	20 (n)	2	Bringmann and Kuhn, 1982
143-08-8	1-Nonanol		130 at 20°C	Nitocra spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h EC50	25 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
112-30-1	1-Decanol		40 mg/L at 20°C	N. spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h EC50	3.1 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
68516-18-7	Decene, hydroformylation products	Supporting.hydroformylation product (=C11)	No data	D. magna	EPA 1975	Static	48 h LC50	4.2 (n)	2	Burgess and Forbis, 1983b
112-42-5	1-Undecanol		8.0 at 20°C	N.spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h LC50	0.8-1.1 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
112-53-8	1-Dodecanol		1.9 at 20°C	D. magna	DIN 38412	Static	48 h EC50	0.77 (n)	2	Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology, 1997
112-70-9	1-Tridecanol	SUPPORTING	0.38 at 20°C	D. magna	Not specified	Not specified	EC50 (duration unknown)	0.51 (>LoS)	4	Unilever, 1995
112-72-1	1-Tetradecanol		0.19 at 25°C	D. magna	Not specified	Not specified	48 h EC50	3.2 (>LoS)	2	Unilever, 2010

Notes:

¹>LoS: LC₅₀ observed was greater than the limit of solubility (n) based on nominal concentrations, (m) based on measured concentrations.

SUPPORTING denotes that the substance is not for registration but the data are used to support the category

Multi-constituents LCAAs

The data presented in the table below show the multi-constituent substances containing LCAAs with carbon numbers in the ranges of C7-9 to C12-15 to exert short-term toxicity at concentrations of between 0.23 and 30 mg/L. At these concentrations it is likely that all constituents will have been fully dissolved. The short-term EC₅₀ of the C14-15 LCAAs to aquatic invertebrate was determined to be above the limit of solubility of the substance.

For the C12-14 and C12-18 multi-constituent substances there was evidence of toxic effects in tests conducted on test media prepared as water-accommodated fractions at loading rates that exceeded the solubility of some constituents. For the C16-18 substance there was evidence of effects in test media that could have contained undissolved test material. The possibility of physical effects (rather than true toxicity) contributing to the observed effects were not discussed in the test report but cannot be excluded.

 

The lowest reliable short-term EC/LC₅₀ values for invertebrates exposed to multi-constituent LCAAs are presented in the following table.

Table: Invertebrate short-term toxicity studies on mixed carbon chain length (multi-constituent) LCAAs (species are freshwater unless noted otherwise).

CAS #	Chemical name	Comment	Water solubility (mg/L)	Species	Method/ Guideline^2	Exposure regime	Endpoint	Value (mg/L)^3	Reliability code	Reference
	Alcohols, C7-9		510 mg/L at a loading rate of 1000 mg/L (estimated)	Daphnia magna	OECD 202	Semi-static	48 h EC50	5.9	1	Fraunhofer Institute, 2005a
Mixture of 68527-05-9 and 70955-11-2-	Mixture of hexane and octene hydroformylation products	i.e. alcohols, C7-9 SUPPORTING	No data	D. magna	EPA 1975	Static	48 h LC50	30 (n)	2	Burgess and Forbis, 1983c
68515-81-1	Nonanol, branched and linear	Read-across from C9	121 (estimated)	Nitocra spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h EC50	25 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
	Alcohols, C9-11- branched and linear	Also valid for Alcohols, C9-11 CAS 66455-17-2	44 at a loading rate of 1000 mg/L. (estimated)	D. magna	Not specified	Static	48 h EC50	7 (n)	2	Shell Research Limited, 1983
	Alcohols, C9-11- branched and linear	Also valid for Alcohols, C9-11 CAS 66455-17-2	44 at a loading rate of 1000 mg/L. (estimated)	Crangon crangon (marine)	UK MAFF	Semi-static	96 h LC50	4.6 (n)	2	Huntingdon Life Sciences Ltd. 1991a.
Mixture of 68516-18-7, 68527-05-9 and 70955-11-2-	Mixture of octane and decene hydroformylation products	SUPPORTING	No data	D. magna	EPA 1975	Static	48 h LC50	11 (n)	2	Burgess and Forbis, 1983d
90342-32-8	Decanol, branched and linear	Read-across from C10	26.17 at 20°C	N. spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h EC50	3.1 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
128973-77-3	Undecanol, branched and linear   Reaction mass of 2-methyldecan-1-ol and 2-propyloctan-1-ol and 2-ethylnonan-1-ol and 2-butylheptan-1-ol	Read-across from C11	6.3 at 25°C	N. spinipes (brackish)	Not specified	Static	96 h LC50	0.8-1.1 (n)	2	Bengtsson, Renberg, and Tarkpea, 1984
740817-83-8	Alcohols, C12-13-branched and linear		2.4 at 25^oC	D. magna	OECD 202 WAF	Static	48 h EL50	0.23(n)	1	Shell, 2000a
75782-87-5	Alcohols, C12-13		2.4 at 25^oC	C. crangon (marine)	UK MAFF	Semi-static	96 h LC50	>10 (n) (>LoS)	2	Huntingdon Life Sciences Ltd. 1991b.
740817-83-8	Alcohols, C12-13-branched and linear		2.9-3.1 at 20°C	D. magna	OECD 202 WAF	Static	48 h EL50	2.8 (n)	1	TNO, 2000b
80206-82-2	Alcohols, C 12-14	Type A SUPPORTING	4.6 predicted at 1000 mg/L loading rate	D. magna	EU 92/69/EWG WAF	Static	48 h EL50	63 (n) (>LoS)	1	Henkel, 1998b
90604-40-3	Alcohols, C12-15-branched and linear		0.80 at 20°C	D. magna	OECD 202 WAF	Static	48 h EL50	<1.0	1	Shell, 2001a
67762-25-8	Alcohols, C 12-18	Type A SUPPORTING	1.7 predicted at 100 mg/L loading rate	D. magna	EU 92/69/EWG	Static	48 h EL50	40 (n) (>LoS)	1	Henkel, 1998a
68002-94-8	Alcohols, C 16-18 and 18 Unsaturated	SUPPORTING	0.044 predicted at 1000 mg/L loading rate	D. magna	EU Guideline 92/69/EWG	Static	48 h EC50	70 (n) (>LoS)	2	Henkel KGaA. 1995.

Notes:

¹Compositional Types are described in section 1.4.7 of the category report.

²WAF denotes test medium was a water-accommodated fraction

³>LoS: EC₅₀ observed was greater than the limit of solubility of at least some constituents of the substance. (n) based on nominal concentrations, (m) based on measured concentrations.

SUPPORTING denotes that the substance is not for registration but the data are used to support the category

n/a denotes not applicable

The data for nonanol, branched and linear, decanol branched and linear, decanol branched and undecanol branched and reaction mass of 2-methyldecan-1-ol and 2-propyloctan-1-ol and 2-ethylnonan-1-ol and 2-butylheptan-1-ol alcohols have been read-across from their linear LCAAs counterparts (C9, C10 and C11) since they are essentially linear LCAAs.

The measured data do not permit a definite toxicity cut-off to be identified for the single carbon number LCAAs or the multi-constituent substances. This is because the potential for physical effects to contribute to the results obtained for the C13 and 14 single carbon number alcohols, and the multi-constituent substances containing constituents with carbon numbers that are all >C12, cannot be excluded. However, it is reasonable to conclude from the data that are presented that it is unlikely that linear LCAAs with carbon numbers >C13 and multi-constituent LCAAs with carbon numbers all >C13 would be toxic.

 

References

 

Bengtsson, B., Renberg, L., and Tarkpea, M. (1984). Molecular structure and aquatic toxicity-An example with C1-C13 aliphatic alcohols. Chemosphere 13(5/6):613-622.

 

Bringmann, V. and Kuhn, R.1982. Results of toxic action of water pollutants on Daphnia magna Straus tested by an improved standardized procedure. Z. Wasser Abwasser Forsch. 15(1):1-6.

 

Burgess, D. and Forbis, A.D. 1983b. Acute toxicity of oxo alcohol 1100 to Daphnia magna. Static acute bioassay report 30851.

 

Burgess, D. and Forbis, A.D. 1983d. Acute toxicity of oxo alcohol 7911 to Daphnia magna. Static acute bioassay report 30848.

 

Burgess, D. and Forbis, A.D. 1983c. Acute toxicity of oxo alcohol 7900 to Daphnia magna. Static acute bioassay report 30845.

 

Fraunhofer Institute, 2005a, Daphnia, acute immobilization, Linevol 79. Study SDA-04/4-20, Fraunhofer Institute.

 

Henkel, 1998a. Henkel Report No. R9800103.

 

Henkel,1998b. Henkel KGaA Report No. R9800104.

 

Henkel KGaA., 1995. Report No. 9400262. May 1995.

 

Huntingdon Life Sciences Ltd.(HLS).1991a. Report No. SLL 207(a)/91714.

 

Huntingdon Life Sciences Ltd.(HLS).1991b. Report No. SLL 207(b)/91602.

 

Laboratory of Pharmacology and Toxicology. 1997. Examination of 1-Dodecanol in an acute immobilization test in Daphnia magna. LPT Report No. 10762/97.

 

Shell, 2000a. Shell. RTS Report No. CT.00.47050.

 

Shell, 2001a. Shell. RTS Report No. OG.01.49011.

 

Shell Research Limited, 1983. Toxicity tests with Daphnia magna: Acute toxicity of eight test materials to a newly-introduced strain of D. magna in reconstituted fresh water. Shell Research Limited, Sittingbourne Research Centre. SBGR.83.100.

 

TNO Nutrition and Food Research Institute. 2000b. Static acute toxicity test with compound 33A abd the crustacean species Daphnia magna. TNO report V98.1320.

 

Unilever, 1995. Acute toxicity of 1-tetradecanol to Daphnia magna. Unilever. Study AT/ALC/BK4.

Unilever, 2010. The Acute toxicity of 1-tetradecanol to Daphnia magna. Testing laboratory: Unilever Port Sunlight Research Laboratory, Quarry Road East, Bebington, Wirral Merseyside, L63 3JW, UK. Owner Company: Unilever. Company study no.: AT/ACL/BK4. Report date: 2010-08-01 (2010 study report summarising a 1994 study).