Superfund Research Program

User-friendly Technology Detects NDMA in Water

Release Date: 11/06/2024

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Highlights

  • Researchers created a simple, affordable test to detect low levels of the harmful chemical NDMA, an industrial byproduct, in drinking water.
  • The test changes the water color when NDMA is present, allowing ease in monitoring.
  • This test can be used by researchers and residents to quickly identify the presence of NDMA.

Research Summary

A new technology, developed by researchers at the NIEHS-funded Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Superfund Research Program (SRP) Center, can detect the contaminant N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) in water. This breakthrough tool offers a quick way to monitor NDMA by triggering a visible color change when light interacts with the contaminated solution.

NDMA, classified as a probable human carcinogen, is commonly found in industrial waste and is also a byproduct of certain wastewater treatment processes. From the 1950s until 1986, millions of gallons of waste from a chemical manufacturing plant leaked into the environment in Wilmington, Massachusetts. The contaminant has since then been found in drinking water supplies and linked to a higher than average number of childhood cancer cases in Wilmington. In response to growing concerns about NDMA exposure the MIT SRP Center was established in 2017.

“Effective monitoring of NDMA in water is crucial for public safety, but current detection methods are time-consuming, costly, and require specialized equipment and trained personnel, limiting their real-world use,” said project leader Timothy Swager, Ph.D.

Swager's team at MIT set out to create a user-friendly solution to revolutionize NDMA monitoring and make it more accessible for practical use.

Harnessing Light to Enable Easy Visual Detection

How does the NDMA test work? First, a specialized testing solution is added to NDMA-contaminated water. Powered by UV light, NDMA reacts with the testing solution to create radicals. Iron is then added to the mix. It interacts with the radicals to produce a vibrant green color.

Current NDMA detection methods rely on toxic chemicals and expensive laboratory equipment to break down the NDMA molecule and detect its byproducts, such as nitric oxide, using specialized sensors. Swager and his team sought a simpler, safer approach that harnessed NDMA’s sensitivity to UV light.

NDMA undergoes photodegradation when exposed to UV light and certain organic compounds, breaking its nitrogen-nitrogen bonds and forming reactive radicals. These radicals can then interact with specific compounds in a testing solution, triggering a chemical transformation that produces a visible color change, enabling easy detection.

First, the team mixed NDMA-contaminated water with various organic compounds in the lab to identify chemicals that effectively generated reactive radicals. They discovered that when NDMA reacted with a commercially available compound known as naphtholsulfonate, it produced the reactive radical ortho-quinone-oxime 2.

Next, they exposed this radical to different metals known for forming vibrantly colored complexes. When iron was added, the solution turned noticeably green, making it easy to detect the presence of NDMA by sight alone.

Through further testing, the researchers optimized the conditions for detecting NDMA, creating an assay capable of identifying NDMA concentrations as low as 0.66 parts per million in just 20 minutes. They also demonstrated that sunlight could effectively power this reaction, making it a simple, cost-effective method for NDMA detection.

Impact Statement

“This simple and quick method avoids the complicated processes usually needed by other detection strategies,” Swager said. “This technology holds promise for creating field-deployable sensors or at-home testing devices.”

For More Information Contact:

Timothy M. Swager
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139-4307
Phone: 617-253-4423
Email: tswager@mit.edu

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