Approach and Themes

The Mabury research team is interested in elucidating the mechanisms and pathways that control the environmental fate, dissipation, and persistence of organic halogenated pollutants. We are specifically interested in understanding how the presence of halogen atoms in chemical architecture may affect the physical and chemical properties of these organohalogen chemicals, both of which have implications for their reactivity and persistence in the natural environment

We have been fascinated by the dichotomy between some perfluorinated compounds which have been shown to redefine ‘persistence’ with no observable degradation under even extreme conditions, and other fluorinated compounds that are rapidly biotransformed in various biological systems. We are actively engaged in a large number of experiments in the area of fluorinated surfactants and polymers and their analytical, fate, disposition, toxicity, and persistence chemistry. Examples of such experiments include: aerobic and anaerobic incubation with wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) media to investigate biodegradation; animal exposure (i.e. rats and fish) to assess bioaccumulation and biotransformation; in vitro reactions with biological constituents (i.e. amino acids, proteins, enzymes) to evaluate kinetics and binding mechanisms; and method development and monitoring of field-collected environmental samples (i.e. human blood, surface waters, sediments, WWTP sludge, etc.). Field sampling also plays a key role in our understanding of the global contamination of these fluorinated pollutants. Past field campaigns have taken place in Resolute Bay and Devon Island in the Arctic.

We also maintain interests in other chemical pollutants such as the mixed halogenated dioxins. Ongoing experiments investigate the formation of mixed halogenated species under thermal conditions, while new analytical methods are developed for their identification in environmental samples.

Students working in this research group typically synthesize new compounds for use as standards or to confirm identity of proposed reaction metabolites. We endeavour to glean the techniques from all areas of chemistry to apply to our investigations and are not wedded to any one technique to approach our hypotheses or objectives. Students directly benefit from this interdisciplinary approach by learning disparate chemical skills and communicating across discipline boundaries. These projects require students to learn the latest spectroscopic, chromatographic, and mass spectrometric instrumentation techniques which is greatly facilitated by the wealth of instrumentation we have for our research (both in our lab and in AIMS and ANALEST).

We are also interested in chemical education in the context of analytical and environmental chemistry and most of the grad students have been involved in new pedagogical projects that have been published in the Journal of Chemical Education.