Estimating non-specific aquatic toxicity for the fathead minnow using surrogate chromatographic models

• RPLC binary solvent systems were screened to identify fathead minnow non-specific toxicity surrogate chromatography models • XTerra MS C18 phase with 10 % (v/v) tetrahydrofuran-water is a suitable RPLC system to estimate fathead minnow -log LC 50 • MEKC system having surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide is a suitable system to estimate fathead minnow -log LC 50 In the assessment of aquatic toxicity, the fathead minnow ( Pimephales promelas ), a small fish species, is commonly used as an indicator. A major challenge in environmental risk assessment is predicting the aquatic toxicity of tens of thousands of emerging chemical contaminants and their metabolites, especially when no experimental data exist in the public domain or there is no means to generate new information. In this work the correlation of reversed-phase liquid chromatography and micellar electrokinetic chromatography retention factors to estimate fathead minnow toxicity was explored. We identified several surrogate chromatographic systems to estimate aquatic non-specific toxicity for the fathead minnow. We identified the reversed-phase liquid chromatography system comprising the XTerra MS C 18 10% tetrahydrofuran-water binary solvent system and the micellar electrokinetic chromatography system utilizing the surfactant hexadecyltrimethylammonium bromide with prediction errors of 0.231-0.287 and 0.141-0.179 log units as suitable surrogate chromatographic systems to estimate non-specific aquatic toxicity for the fathead minnow.