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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.

The new ECHA CHEM database has been released by ECHA, and it now contains all REACH registration data. There are more details on the transition of ECHA's published data to ECHA CHEM here.

Diss Factsheets

Environmental fate & pathways

Endpoint summary

Administrative data

Description of key information

Additional information

There is no measured data available on aquatic bioaccumulation for phthalic acid. According to REACH Annex XI, alternative approach should be considered before a new vertebrate test is conducted.

Therefore,assessing the bioaccumulation potential in aquatic organisms, a BCF has been calculated with the BCF Program (v 2.15) taking the octanol-water partition coefficient in account. For phthalic acid, a default log BCF value of 0.5, resulting in a BCF of 3.16, is applied, as phthalic acid is identified as an ionic compound by the program (Bayer Industry Services, 2004b). As in general ionised organic substances do not readily diffuse across respiratory surfaces and phthalic acid is significantly deprotonated at physiological conditions (pH 3-9), it is expected that the substance has no significant potential for bioaccumulation in aquatic organisms.

In green house studies 14C-phthalic acid was applied to soil planted with wheat (Triticum aestivum) /corn (Zea mays) or soybeans (Glycine max) /tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea). For phthalic acid the bioaccumulation ratios were 0.013 for plants and 0.0046 for seeds. TLC analysis showed that the percent of the extractable 14C still in phthalic acid, was 5 % in corn and fescue, 15 % in soybean, 9 % in wheat plants, and the highest for wheat seed (47 %) (Dorney et al., 1985). This study demonstrates the relatively low potential for accumulation of phthalic acid in plants.