Thesis (M.Sc. (Chemistry)) --University of Limpopo, 2017 / The presence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the environment is of major concern since these compounds are highly persistent, toxic and wide spread pollutants. The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of PAHs in water and sediment samples collected from Blood and Mokolo Rivers in Limpopo Province, South Africa. Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) was used for the extraction of PAHs from water, whereas PAHs in sediments were extracted using optimised microwaveassisted extraction (MAE). Furthermore, ultrasonication and a combination of ultrasonication and mechanical agitation were used for the extraction of PAHs from sediments samples. The quantification of sixteen (16) PAHs in water and sediment was carried out using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode and by GC-flame ionisation detector (GC-FID). Concentrations of PAHs in sediments were higher than in water. The highest concentrations of PAHs were obtained in Mokolo River sediments, with the concentration ranging between 0.044 and 51.9 mg/kg. The levels of PAHs recorded in Blood River sediments were lower than those obtained in Mokolo River with concentrations ranging between 0.014 and 3.10 mg/kg. In water samples, higher levels of PAHs were observed in Mokolo River (between 0.0219 and 1.53 µg/L) while lower concentrations were recorded in Blood River (between 0.0121 and 0.433 µg/L). In water and sediment samples from both Rivers, higher molecular weight (HMW) PAH compounds (4-6 rings) were found at greater concentration levels than lower molecular weight (LMW) PAHs (2-3 rings), and this can be attributed to pyrogenic activities in the study areas. The efficiencies and accuracy of the methods for the extraction of PAHs were determined by assessing the recoveries of samples spiked with known amount of standards (for water samples), while a certified reference material (CRM) was used for sediments. Percentage recoveries ranged from 67.6 to 115% for LLE and 83.8 to 125% for MAE for both sample types. Diagnostic ratio was used for the source identification of PAHs in sediment samples. Several PAHs ratios indicated that both pyrogenic and petrogenic could be the sources of these compounds in both rivers. Toxic equivalency factors (TEFs) and benzo(a)pyrene equivalent (BaPE) were used to quantitatively estimate the PAHs potential human health risk. The assessment of ecotoxicological risk indicated that the v sediment samples collected from Mokolo River are at high toxicity risk while sediments from Blood River are at low sediment toxicity risk. / Water Research Commission (WRC), National Research Foundation (NRF) and Sasol Inzalo Foundation

Les lichens sont des organismes symbiotiques constitués d'un champignon (mycobionte) associé à une algue et/ou une cyanobactérie (photobionte). Leurs métabolites secondaires sont des molécules originales appartenant au groupe des depsides, depsidones, dibenzofuranes et présentent un intérêt pour la cosmétique et/ou la pharmaceutique en raison de leur propriété antibiotique, anti-inflammatoire, antioxydant, filtre UV. Nous avons choisi d'étudier le lichen Pseudevenia furfuracea qui est l'un des lichens utilisés en tant que matière première pour la parfumerie et la cosmétique (1900 tonnes / an), car il est d'une part abondant dans la nature et d'autre part, il possède des métabolites secondaires très variés. Classiquement, les extraits utilisés sont obtenus par extraction au reflux de solvants organiques; cette méthode à l'inconvénient d'induire des durées d'extractions relativement longues et est consommatrice en solvants. L'objectif de notre travail est d'extraire les métabolites secondaires d'une manière sélective et innovante tout en diminuant la durée d'extraction. Pour cela, nos travaux reposent sur l'extraction assistée sous micro-onde (EAM) combinée ou non aux liquides ioniques. Dans ce dessein, deux familles de liquides ioniques (LIs) "hydrophiles" et "hydrophobes" ayant un cation imidazolium et pyridinium ont été synthétisés. Trois différentes préparations de lichen (mixé, broyé au mortier et broyé planétaire) ont été effectuées en faisant varier la granulométrie et chaque préparation a été étudiée par microscopie électronique à balayage. L'optimisation de l'EAM a été effectuée à une température d'extraction optimale de 75 °C et a permis de générer un énorme gain de temps (24 h sous conditions classiques contre 15 min sous irradiation micro-onde). Une étude comparative des taux d'extraction entre l'EAM et l'extraction en condition classique a été éffectuée par analyse au spectrodensitomètre CAMAG®, celle-ci a montré que la première est plus performante dans la plupart des cas. L'utilisation des liquides ioniques a mis en évidence l'existence d'une sélectivité d'extraction en fonction de la structure des LIs qui résulte d'interactions intermoléculaires entre les LIs et les substances extraites. L'effet de chaque liquide ionique sur la dégradation d'un des métabolites, en particulier l'atranorine, a également été étudié. Également, les interactions entre un liquide ionique et la surface du lichen ont été étudiées par mesure d'angle de contact et par les mesures de Brunauer Emett et Teller. Une extraction à plus grande échelle a été réalisée pour étudier la reproductibilité de la méthode et la possibilité de recycler le liquide ionique. / Lichens are symbiotic organisms constituted of fungus (mycobiont) associated to algae and/or cyanobacteria (photobiont). Their secondary metabolites are original molecules belonging to the group of depsides, depsidones, dibenzofurans. Lichens presented special interest for cosmetic and pharmaceutical industry due to their antibiotic, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and UV filter properties. In this work we focused our study on Pseudevenia furfuracea lichen, which is intensively used as a raw material in perfumery and cosmetics (1900 tons/year), due to its large availability in nature as well as possessing various secondary metabolites. In this work we presented extraction of the secondary metabolites using a selective and innovative solventfree method in shorter extraction time in comparison to the conventional extraction methods requiring under reflux of large quantities of solvents with longer times for extraction. The proposed method is based on the use of microwave irradiation for extraction (MIE) associated to (or not) appropriate ionic liquids. Two kinds of hydrophilic or hydrophobic imidazolium- and pyridinium-based ionic liquids (ILs) were synthesized. Three different methods of grinding for lichen were used, leading to different particle size and the crushed products were observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Heating optimization of MIE was performed during 15 min at optimal temperature (75 °C) (instead of 24 h under conventional heating). A comparative study of extraction rates between MIE and extraction with conventional heating was realized with a CAMAG® spectrodensitometer and results of analysis showed that MIE is efficient in most of the studied cases. The use of ionic liquids showed selectivity for extraction and it depended on the structure of ILs and also intermolecular interactions between ILs and extracted substances.Effect of each ionic liquid on the degradation of one of the secondary metabolites, atranorin, was also been studied. In addition, interactions between IL and the surface of the lichen surface were studied by measurements of the angle of contact and by Brunauer Emett and Teller measurements. Scale-up for extraction was carried out to investigate the reproducibility of the method and the possibility of reuse of the ionic liquid.