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Diss Factsheets
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EC number: 202-851-5 | CAS number: 100-42-5
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Description of key information
Additional information
In Annex X of the Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 REACH concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals (REACH), it is suggested, that "in the absence of toxicity data for soil organisms, the equilibrium partitioning method may be applied to assess the hazard to soil organisms. The choice of the appropriate tests depends on the outcome of the chemical safety assessment.In particular for substances that have a high potential to adsorb to soil or that are very persistent, the registrant shall consider long-term toxicity testing instead of short-term.These studies do not need to be conducted if direct and indirect exposure of the soil compartment is unlikely."
Only an acute test for earthworm is available and a weight of evidence approach for the acute toxicity on plants using structurally related chemicals. No data on soil microorganisms and no data on long term toxicity to soil organisms are available.
However in the case of readily biodegradable substances which are not applied to soil it is generally assumed that the substance will not enter the terrestrial environment and as such there is no need for additional testing on soil organisms. Styrene is not a strong adsorptive substance, is highly volatile and rapidly degraded in the air via photo-oxidation, so that an indirect soil exposure via STP sludge and aerial deposition is considered as not relevant.
There is only one result for terrestrial organisms (acute toxicity to earthworm, Springborn 1995). In this test however, exposure concentrations are not well defined since a considerable loss of styrene concentrations was observed during the test. The relevance of the analytical results is therefore questionable. Basing the results on the nominal concentrations the EC50 would lie in the range 500 - 1000 mg/kg soil dw.
Therefore, the equilibrium partitioning method has been used to estimate a PNEC for styrene. This method is considered to be suitable for a substance like styrene with a moderate log Kow value.
Using the equilibrium partitioning method, the PNECsoil for Styrene is calculated according to the TGD (EC 2003, part II, chapter 3, p. 117):
PNECsoil = (Ksoil-water/ RHOsoil) · PNECwater · 1000
With the default parameters of the TGD concerning the fractions and densities in soil as well as the substance parameters Koc = 352 L/kg, H = 232 Pa m3 mol-1 and PNECwater = 0.028 mg/L, the PNECsoil for styrene is derived as follows:
PNECsoil = 0.177 mg/kg wwt = 0.2 mg/kg dwt
(For comparison, using the acute LC50 value for earthworm and an assessment factor of 1000 the PNECsoil would give a similar result of 0.12 mg/kg.)
Secondary poisoning
The environmental fate and the low log Kow of Styrene indicate, that secondary poisoning is an unlikely exposure pathway.
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
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