Novel transformation products of synthetic antioxidants in serum samples from general population

As extensively used additives in food industries, synthetic antioxidants (SAOs) and their transformation products (TPs) always expose to humans through multiple pathways. Here, we established a suspected screening strategy based on segmental scanning and detected 33 SAOs and 21 TPs in serum samples, which included 9 newly-found TPs from the hydroxylation, sulfation or acetylation of SAOs. The concentration of SAOs, including synthetic phenolic antioxidants (SPAs) and amino antioxidants (SAAs), was 22.9-398 ng/mL. Higher levels of SPAs than SAAs aligned with their more common application in direct-consumption foods. Moreover, several TPs were present at higher concentrations than their parent compounds, which exhibited high accumulation potentials. Specially, concentrations of oxidative TPs of BHT and hydroxylated TPs of BHA were 6.50 and 91.9 times of their parent compounds, respectively. These results improve our understanding on the internal exposure of human to SAO and their TPs, providing critical data for their comprehensive evaluation.