Pentyl formate

PBT assessment

PBT assessment: overall result

PBT status:

the substance is not PBT / vPvB

Justification:

Classification of Pentyl formate for effects in the environment:

 

The chemical Pentyl formate (CAS no. 638-49-3) is used as a flavour ingredient in the food industry. The aim was to assess whether the PBT criterion within Annex XIII was fulfilled for Pentyl formate. The PBT criterion was herein assessed based on experimental data in conjunction with standardized environmental fate models. Here follows a description of the PBT assessment.

 

 

Persistence assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the P criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

Biotic degradation

In a prediction done by SSS (2017) using OECD QSAR toolbox version 3.3 with log Kow as the primary descriptor, percentage biodegradability of test chemical, Pentyl formate (CAS No. 638-49-3)was estimated. Test substance undergoes 88.4% degradation by BOD in 28 days. Thus, based on percentage degradation, the test chemical Pentyl formate was estimated to be readily biodegradable in water.

 

In another prediction using the Estimation Programs Interface Suite (EPI suite, 2017), the biodegradation potential of the test compound Pentyl formate (CAS No. 638-49-3)in the presence of mixed populations of environmental microorganisms was estimated. The biodegradability of the substance was calculated using seven different models such as Linear Model, Non-Linear Model, Ultimate Biodegradation Timeframe, Primary Biodegradation Timeframe, MITI Linear Model, MITI Non-Linear Model and Anaerobic Model (called as Biowin 1-7, respectively) of the BIOWIN v4.10 software. The results indicate that chemical Pentyl formate is expected to be readily biodegradable.

 

Experimental study on read across substances (CAS: 108-84-9; 105-46-4 and 103-09-3) also indicate the substances to be readily biodegradable.

 

Environmental fate

According to the fugacity model levels III, the most likely environmental fate for this test chemical is soil (i.e.estimated to 41.2%). In soil, Pentyl formate was expected to have moderate mobility based upon an estimated LogKOC in the range 1.55 – 2.41. Thehalf-life in soil (17.33 days estimated by EPI suite) indicates that the chemical is not persistent in soil and the exposure risk to soil dwelling animals is moderate to low.

 

If released in to the environment, 40.6 % and 0.103% of the chemical will partition into water and sediment respectively according to the Mackay fugacity model level III in EPI suite version 4.1 (2017). Moreover, the half-life (8.66 days in water and 77.91 days in sediment as estimated by EPI suite) indicates that the chemical is not persistent in both the compartments.

 

Hence it has been concluded that Pentyl formate is not persistent in nature.

 

 

Bioaccumulation assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the B criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

Theestimated BCF value from various databases was determined to be in the range 4.13 – 23.65 and theoctanol water partition coefficient of the test chemical is 1.79 which is less than the threshold of 4.5. If this chemical is released into the aquatic environment, there should be a low risk for the chemical to bioaccumulate in fish and food chains.

 

Toxicity assessment

The tested substance does not fulfil the T criterion within Annex XIII based on the assessment that here follows:

 

Mammals

The tested chemical is regarded to be not classified for carcinogenicity, mutagenicity and reprotoxicity, Further, there is no evidence of chronic toxicity, as identified by the classifications STOT (repeated exposure), category 1(oral, dermal, inhalation of gases/vapours, inhalation of dust/mist/fume) or category 2 (oral, dermal, inhalation of gases/vapours, inhalation of dust/mist/fume).

 

Aquatic organisms

All of the available short-term eco-toxicity estimations for fish, invertebrates and algae for the substance indicates the LC50/EC50 value to be in the range 26.21 - 400 mg/L. These value suggest that the substance is likely to be hazardous to Aquatic organisms at environmentally relevant concentrations but since the substance is readily biodegradable, it can be considered to be not classified as per the CLP regulation.

 

There are no available long-term toxicity evaluations for Pentyl formate. By speculation, long-term NOEC for aquatic organisms were not expected for the substance at concentration below 0.01 mg/L based on the data mentioned above.

 

The chemical was therefore not considered as hazardous to aquatic environments as per the criteria set out in Annex XIII.

 

Conclusion

Based on critical, independent and collective evaluation of information summarized herein, the tested compound does not fulfil the P, B and T criterion and has therefore not been classified as a PBT compound within Annex XIII.