Prediction and experimental evaluation of soil sorption by natural hormones and hormone mimics

Surface runoff from manure-fertilized fields is a significant source of endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in the environment. Sorption by soils may play a major role in the environmental fate of manure-borne EDCs, including 17α- and 17β-estradiol (17α-E2 and 17β-E2), estrone (E1), melengestrol acetate (MGA), 17α- and 17β-trenbolone (17α-TB and 17β-TB), trendione (TND), and zeranol (α-ZAL). As a measure of sorption behavior, the organic carbon-normalized partition coefficients (K(OC)) of 17β-E2, E1, MGA, and α-ZAL were experimentally determined for three agricultural soils with initial EDC concentrations spanning from ∼0.01 to >1 μM. Sorption isotherms were linear for most solute-soil combinations. Measured K(OC) values were compared to those predicted using a suite of single-parameter and polyparameter linear free energy relationships (sp- and pp-LFERs). Sp-LFER models were based on experimentally determined octanol-water partition coefficients (K(OW)), whereas pp-LFER solute descriptors were calculated indirectly from experimentally determined solvent-water partition coefficients or the program ABSOLV. Log K(OC) predictions by sp-LFERs were closest to the experimentally determined values, whereas pp-LFER predictions varied considerably due to uncertainties in both solute and sorbent descriptors determined by ABSOLV or estimates using the partition coefficient approach.