Metabolism and urinary excretion kinetics of di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHTP) in three male volunteers after oral dosage

Di(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DEHTP) is used as a substitute for di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP), an ortho-phthalate-based plasticizer that is classified and labeled due to its toxicity to reproduction. In this study the metabolism and urinary excretion kinetics of DEHTP were investigated by single oral dosage of 50 mg DEHTP to three male volunteers (resulting in individual dosages between 0.55 and 0.59 mg/kg body weight). Separate urine samples were consecutively collected for 48 h. In analogy to DEHP, we quantified specific side-chain-oxidized monoester metabolites of DEHTP (5OH-MEHTP, 5oxo-MEHTP, 5cx-MEPTP and 2cx-MMHTP) by HPLC–MS/MS with online sample clean-up and isotope dilution. All postulated metabolites were detectable in all samples after dosage. The predominant, specific urinary metabolite was 5cx-MEPTP representing about 13.0 % of the applied dose as mean of the three volunteers (range 7.0–20.4 %) in urine, followed by 5OH-MEHTP (mean: 1.8 %; range 1.3–2.4 %) and 5oxo MEHTP (mean: 1.0 %; range 0.6–1.6 %). 2cx-MMHTP was a minor metabolite representing only 0.3 % (range 0.2–0.4 %). In total, about 16.1 % of the dose was recovered in urine as the above investigated specific metabolites within 48 h with the major share (95 %) being excreted within the first 24 h. Investigation of the glucuronidation patterns revealed that the carboxy-metabolites are excreted almost completely in their free form (>90 %), whereas for 5OH-MEHTP and 5oxo-MEHTP, glucuronidation is preferred (>70 %). With this study we provide reliable urinary excretion factors to calculate DEHTP intakes based on metabolite concentrations in environmental and occupational studies.