The toxicity of cationic surfactants in four bioassays

The purpose of this study was to investigate the toxicity of 15 quaternary ammonium compounds (QACs) in a battery of four bioassays comprising the bacterium Vibrio fischeri, two ciliated protozoa Spirostomum ambiguum and Tetrahymena thermophia, and the anostracean crustacean Artemia franciscana. The compounds were prepared by Professor Pernakʹs group at Pozna University of Technology (Poland). The toxicity of the test compounds was very high, with EC(LC)50 values varying from 0.11 to 70 μmol/L. Microtox was the most sensitive bioassay, while the crustacean test was the least sensitive. Among the protozoa T. thermophila was 5–30 times less sensitive than S. ambiguum. The toxicity of the QACs depended on their structure, but no simple correlation was found for all the bioassays applied.