Prof. Dr. Heinrich Hühnerfuß
Im Ruhestand
AK Hühnerfuß
Anschrift
Kontakt
Curriculum Vitae
born in Wilster ("Perle derWestküste, Stadt der Baudenkmäler"), state of Schleswig-Holstein(Germany);
1963-1971 University of Hamburg,
1971 Dr. rer. nat. (under Prof. Wolfgang Walter); 1986 Habilitation;
1991 venia legendi ("Privatdozent"); 1996 Professor of the Universityof Hamburg
- Married with: Erika Hühnerfuss
- children: Natalie Hühnerfuss; Dr. Katja Hühnerfuss
- grandchildren: Bjarne Hühnerfuss
Member of the Route 66 Association of Arizona
Forschung
Ecotoxicology
Ecotoxicology investigates the effects of chemical substances on biological systems such as plants, animals, bacteria or whole ecosystems. This interdisciplinary research aims at establishing dose-response relationships between the concentration of a specific compound and an observed effect. The knowledge gained is applied on the one hand to the routine monitoring of ecosystems, on the other hand to the registration of new and evaluation of old chemicals. In our research group special focus in this subject has been placed upon the diverse effects of the HCH-enantiomers, which show a different capacity to cross the human blood-brain-barrier. Due to this fact, the toxicological impact of each enantiomer must be considered very carefully. More details can be found on the page about chirality. Only recently, a book dealing with this very aspects was published: Chiral Environmental Pollutants - Trace Analysis and Ecotoxicology.
At present time, we work on the combination of our analytical methods with biological testing, the so-called bioassay-directed chemical analysis. So far, this strategy has been applied to water samples from the river Elbe (diploma thesis, Ninja Reineke) and is now extended to sediment samples from the North Sea. We are part of an interdisciplinary project at the University of Hamburg: The project ISIS (Identification of sediment-bound contaminants: toxicity guided analytic; duration 2000-2002) combines the knowledge of chemistry, biology and toxicology as different institutions in Hamburg take part in this project (see below).
With the applied bioassay-directed fractionation it should be possible to get an insight into the effects that are caused by harmful substances in a complex environmental compartment. One of the problems to face is the differentiation between the natural effects of biogenic compounds and those caused by human activities. For more details see here.
The partners of the ISIS-project are as follows:
Biota Analysis
The basic concept of this experimental approach is based upon the assumption that enzymatic transformation of chiral xenobiotics may occur highly enantioselectively thus giving rise to enantiomeric excesses, while abiotic processes are expected to lead to racemic transformation products, if the parent compounds are entering the environment as racemates. In conclusion, enantioselective chromatography of environmental sample extracts should reveal biotic and abiotic transformation processes, respectively.
In 1991, the working group of Prof. Hühnerfuss (Kallenborn et al., 1991, see full list of references) was the first to report on the successful application of enantioselective gas chromatography (GC) to biota extracts with the aim of investigating the enantioselective metabolism of alpha-HCH in organisms of different trophic levels. The authors obtained common Eider ducks (Somateria mollissima (L.)) from the Oehe/Schleimünde wildlife refuge on the Baltic coast of Germany. Organ samples were taken only from healthy animals that, upon diving, had become trapped in the fishing nets of local fisherman and were thereby drowned. The Eider duck was chosen, because it largely favours blue mussels (Mytilus edulis L.) in its diet. Blue mussels, in turn, are capable of strongly enriching pollutants and thus serve as “indicator organisms” to provide insight into the state of an aquatic environment. Thus, one of only few examples is encountered, where a simple ”food chain” can be assumed (water mussel Eider duck). Normally, one should rather consider a ”food web”.
The detailed analyses of the extracts of six common Eider duck tissues revealed that (+)-alpha-HCH was clearly enriched; almost enantiomerically pure (+)-alpha-HCH was present in the liver extracts. The enantiomeric purity of (+)-alpha-HCH isolated from liver extracts was so high that after purification by HPLC, it can be used directly in model experiments. By contrast, the enantiomeric ratio (+)-alpha-HCH/(-)-alpha-HCH was about 7 in muscle extracts and about 1.6 in kidney extracts, whereby the values for these organs were slightly larger or smaller for different common Eider ducks..
An exact explanation for the appearance of different enantiomeric ratios of (+)-alpha-HCH in the organs of common Eider ducks cannot be given at the present time. It may be assumed, however, that the reason lies in the different physiological functions of the organs. For muscle and kidney, whose main functions are ”locomotion” and ”excretion”, respectively, the content of extractable lipids is about 2 %; these organs can, therefore, store lipophilic pollutants. Liver, which contains about 2.5 % of extractable matrix, serves as a ”detoxification organ” and, therefore, is not only capable of storing toxic compounds, but can also metabolise them to substances that the body can tolerate or excrete. Since the (+)-alpha-HCH found in the liver of common Eider ducks is almost enantiomerically pure, (-)-alpha-HCH is presumably more readily transformed enzymatically than the (+)-enantiomer in the liver. Although such a nearly enantioselective transformation had already been observed previously for biogenic organic compounds, the study by Kallenborn et al. represents the first demonstration for synthetic environmental pollutants.
Additional and, at first glance, surprising results were presented by Möller et al. (see full list of references) who analysed brain tissue of the same Eider duck animals that had already been investigated by Kallenborn et al. with regard to liver, kidney, and muscle tissues. It turned out that an additional enantioselective process that thus far escaped the attention of ecotoxicologists has to be taken into account when assessing the potential risk of environmental pollutants: the enantioselective permeation through the blood-brain-barrier.
The chiral xenobiotic that has been investigated most intensively in all environmental compartments is, without any doubt, alpha-HCH. However, meanwhile several chiral xenobiotics with one or more stereogenic centres have been included in order to study the transformation of these compounds in different environmental compartments, however, enantioselective chromatographic approaches, in particular GC and HPLC, have also been applied to the investigation of additional processes such as the enantioselective permeation through the blood-brain-barrier, photochemical conversion processes, and air/water gas exchange and atmospheric long-range transport. Details can be found in the recent monograph by Kallenborn and Hühnerfuss and in the full list of references.
Water Analysis
Solid-phase extraction (SPE)
In addition to the use of standard SPE-cartridges (PS-DVB, C18) we have developed special filtration/extraction gear for the extraction of large volumes of water (10-100 L) at high flow rates (500 mL/min). The application of hyper-crosslinked polystyrene-divinylbenzene (PS-DVB) sorbents allows the extraction of a broad range of organic compounds. It is especially well suited for medium polar to readily water-soluble substances, e.g., triazines and TPs, phenols, carboxylic acids and even sugars. The technique is currently applied to the determination of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) from marine and estuarine waters.
Liquid-liquid extraction (LLE)
LLE has been used in our group for the extraction of medium polar to highly lipophilic compounds. It has mainly been performed on 10 L-samples with n-hexane as solvent, including the investigation of contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCHs), triazine herbicides (atrazine, simazine, terbutylazine, irgarol etc.), phenoxyalkanoic acid herbicides (after in-situ derivatisation), nitroaromatic compounds (e.g., chloronitrobenzenes) and synthetic musk fragrances (nitro musks, polycyclic musks).
Semi-permeable membrane devices (SPMDs)
These trioleine-filled polyethylene hoses are assumed to simulate the natural bioconcentration process. They are exposed to water over a certain period of time and thus provide time-averaged concentrations. They have been applied in our group to the determination of polycyclic musks from river and pond water.
Determination has been carried out in most cases by gas chromatography after a suitable clean-up (fractionation on silica, alox or reversed phases; gel permeation chromatography) and derivatisation where necessary. Detection has been achieved by phosphorus-nitrogen sensitive detectors (PNDs), electron-capture detectors (ECDs) and mass spectrometers (MS).
Sediment Analysis
Biselli investigated in her PhD thesis several samples from the North Sea and Baltic Sea - coastal samples as well as samples from the open sea. The focus was laid on anthropogenic substances such as the antifouling product irgarol, polycyclic musks and metabolites. Furthermore many biogenic classes of compounds were identified. In addition to the distribution of xenobiotics in sediment samples the potential ecotoxilogical effects of these compunds on the environment are being investigated. This question is subject of the project ISIS.
Remote sensing
Natural and man-made organic surface films, which often can be observed on the sea surface, strongly affect the surface wave field. As a consequence, several air/sea interaction processes, the electromagnetic emission in the visible and microwave bands, and scattering of electromagnetic waves are influenced by such films.
In order to study the influence of sea slicks on the signals of various remote sensors, we have been performing investigations on the open sea, employing experimental sea slicks that can be regarded as „quasi-biogenic" slicks. Such slicks including substances like triolein (simulating „fish oil"), fatty acid mono-esters, long-chain alcohols etc. are model slicks that consist of a pure compound thus allowing a correlation between its chemical structure and its influence on remote sensing signals.
Insofar, our laboratory experiments aiming at a characterization of monolayers at the air/water interface are closely linked with our slick experiments on the open ocean that have been performed in connection with international remote sensing campaigns (e.g., JONSWAP; MARSEN; SAR 580; SAXON-FPN; SIR-C
X-SAR, Bluewater ).
Langmuir Monolayer
Monolayers at the air/water interface can be regarded as model systems for biomembranes and for sea surface films (so-called „slicks") which may accumulate at the air/ocean interface and thus interfer with various air/sea interaction processes. All processes, be it enzymatic processes at membrane surfaces or be it air/sea exchange processes, are closely related to the chemical structure and the intermolecular interaction between the film-forming molecules as well as to the macroscopic arrangement of the film molecules („morphology") and their interaction with the adjacent water layer.
Having in mind the implications of monolayer structure summarised above we perform systematic laboratory investigations that allow a characterization of monolayers at the air/water interface including Langmuir-trough, surface viscosity, surface potential, and surface tension measurements as well as External Infrared Reflection-Absorption Spectroscopy (IRRAS) and Brewster Angle Microscopy (BAM). Thus we gain deepened insight both into intermolecular interactions between the film-forming molecules, between the film molecules and the adjacent water molecules (i.e., on a molecular scale) and into the macroscopic thermodynamic implications of the intermolecular interactions.
Presently, special emphasis is being placed upon the study of chiral film-forming substances. The interactions between such compounds exhibiting a single chiral centre are generally classified as follows: a preferential D:D or L:L interaction is denoted as „homochiral" behaviour, while preferential D:L interaction is called „heterochiral". Homochiral interactions are of particular interest, because they raise the possibility of phase separation into regions of the L- and the D-enantiomers (sometimes referred to as „chiral discrimination" or „symmetry breaking").
The results thus obtained supply a valuable input into the experiments performed in the wind-wave tank of the University of Hamburg and into the experiments performed on the open sea in connection with international remote sensing campaigns (e.g., JONSWAP; MARSEN; SAR 580; SAXON-FPN; SIR-C X-SAR).
Furthermore, the results shed light on problems related to „self-organisation and function" as well as to „recognition processes at organic membranes".
Masterarbeiten/Diplomarbeiten/Promotionen
Titles of Master Theses (Diploma Theses)
- Julia Heick,
Entwicklung und Optimierung eines Analyseverfahrens zur massenspektrometrischen Bestimmung von Mykotoxinen in Lebens- und Futtermitteln
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2008, pp. 60
- Kristina Otto,
Die Schadstoffbelastung von Vögeln und Vogeleier des Deutschen Wattenmeeres unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von “Personal Care”-Produkten
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2008, pp. 68
- Anja Zimmermann,
Gaschromatographisch/massenspektrometrische (GC-MS) Analyse von organischen Schadstoffen in Vögeln und Vogeleiern des deutschen Wattenmeeres - “personal care”-Produkte
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2006, pp. 68
- Sonja Staack,
Enantioselektive Analytik der Transformationsprodukte polychlorierter Biphenyle: Untersuchungen an 4-Hydroxy-PCB 149
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2006 , pp. 77
- Jan Rueß
Ozean/Atmosphäre-Austauschprozesse von unpolaren und polaren organischen Xenobiotika - Modellexperimente
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2006, pp. 52
- Stephanie Selke
Enantioselektive gaschromatographische Trennung von chiralen Pharmazeutika in aquatischen Umweltproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2004, pp. 65
- Markus Scheurell
Biotestgeleitete Nontarget- und Target-Untersuchungen von Umweltkontaminanten im Trinkwasser, Trinkwasserressourcen und Abwässern
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2003, pp. 68
- Jan Kuhlmann
Untersuchungen zur Derivatisierung polarer Umweltkontaminanten und deren Bestimmung mittels Gaschromatographie/Massenspektrometrie
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2001, pp. 120
- Nils Peters
Entwicklung einer Methode zur Analyse von C10-Chlorparaffinen in Biotaproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1999, pp. 44
- Ninja Reineke
Methodenentwicklung zur biotestgeleiteten Analytik von organischen Substanzen in Umweltproben mit Hilfe des Leuchtbakterientests
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Biologie/Chemie der Universität Bremen, 1999, pp. 82
- Stefan Weigel
Entwicklung einer Methode zur Extraktion organischer Spurenstoffe aus großvolumigen Wasserproben mittels Festphasen
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1998 , pp. 86
- Frank Hoffmann
Die Rolle von Wasserstoffbrücken- und Metallkomplex-Bildung für die chirale Kennung in racemischen und enantiomerenreinen Oberflächenfilmen unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Alanin- und Valinderivaten
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1997, pp. 75
- Scarlett Biselli
Untersuchungen zur gaschromatographischen Analyse von stickstoff- und phosphorhaltigen Verbindungen in Sedimenten
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1997 , pp. 98
- Thomas Ellerichmann
Untersuchungen zur Analyse koplanarer und atropisomerer polychlorierter Biphenyle in Umweltproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1996, pp. 58
- Bianca Bethan
Untersuchungen zum enantioselektiven Abbau und zur enantioselektiven Anreicherung von Cyclodien-Pestiziden in Umweltproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1995 , pp. 77
- Hagen Hintze
Untersuchungen zur Analyse koplanarer und atropisomerer polychlorierter Biphenyle in Umweltproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1995, pp. 59
- Christiane Gehle
Untersuchung von Phosphororganika in atmosphärischen Proben aus dem marinen und kontinentalen Bereich
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1994, pp. 58
- Sonja Rhode
Quantifizierung von 8-Hydroxy-2´-desoxyguanosin als Marker für "oxidativen Streß" am Beispiel substituierter 9,10-Anthrachinone
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1994, pp. 43
- Kattrin Möller
Untersuchungen zur enantioselektiven Anreicherung von chiralen Schadstoffen im marinen und terrestrischen Ökosystem
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1993 , pp. 49
- Volker Neumann
Analytik und physikochemische Charakterisierung chiraler grenzflächenaktiver organischer Substanzen
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1993, pp. 51
- Robert Gatermann
Untersuchungen zur gaschromatographischen Analyse von nitroaromatischen Verbindungen in wäßrigen Proben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1993, pp. 64
- Kai Bester
Untersuchungen zur gaschromatographischen Analyse von stickstoffhaltigen organischen Schadstoffen in wäßrigen Proben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1991, pp. 91
- Johannes Simon-Kutscher
Der Einfluß von Salzen auf die Struktur des Systems organischer Grenzflächenfilm/Wasser
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1991, pp. 51
- Bernd Pfaffenberger
Untersuchung zur gaschromatographischen Bestimmung organischer Problemstoffe im Wasser. Ein Vergleich zwischen Festphasen- und Flüssig/flüssig-Extraktion
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1989, pp. 65
- Arne Gericke
Untersuchungen zur Struktur des Systems organischer Grenzflächenfilm/ Wasser
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1988, pp. 70
- Jörn T. Faller
Untersuchungen zur gaschromatographischen Bestimmung halogenierter Kohlenwasserstoffe in Wasserproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1988, pp. 45
- Peter Ludwig
Untersuchungen zur gaschromatographischen Bestimmung halogenierter Phenole in Wasserproben
Diplomarbeit, Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1988, pp. 53
Titles of Ph. D. Theses
- Jan Kuhlmann,
Methodenentwicklung und Bestimmung anthropogener organischer Kontaminanten, ihrer Transformationsprodukte und potentiell biogener Organohalogenverbindungen in der aquatischen Umwelt
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2007, pp. 322
- Christina Caliebe,
Vorkommen und ökologische Relevanz polyfluorierter organischer Schadstoffe in der Meeresumwelt
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2007, pp. 241
- Matthias Grote,
Establishment of cause-effect relationships between observed biological effects and environmental stressors
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2005, pp. 149
- Stefan Weigel,
Occurrence, distribution and fate of pharmaceuticals and further polar contaminants
in the marine environment
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2003, pp. 131
- Ninja Reineke,
Biotestgeleitete Analytik von ökotoxikologisch relevanten organischen Substanzen in Sedimentextrakten von Nord- und Ostsee
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2003, pp. 156
- Nils Peters
Enantioselektive HPLC-Trennung und VCD-Strukturbestimmung von atropisomeren MeSO2-PCB sowie Studien über deren Toxizität und deren Verteilung in Biota-Proben
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2002, pp. 138
- Frank Hoffmann,
Charakterisierung von chiralen Langmuir-Filmen mit Hilfe von IR-spektroskopischen, thermodynamischen und abbildenden Methoden sowie biomimetische Ansätze zur Aufklärung der Wirkweise des antibiotischen Peptids Surfactin
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2002, pp. 176
- Bianca Bethan
Fremdstoff-Belastung mariner Organismen sowie Verteilung, Anreicherung und Transformation ausgewählter chlororganischer Kontaminanten in der Umwelt
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2001, pp. 271
- Scarlett Bisell
Entwicklung einer analytischen Methode zum Nachweis von ökotoxikologisch relevanten organischen Problemstoffen in Sedimenten und Biota unter besonderer Berücksichtigung von Irgarol, synthetischen Moschusduftstoffen und deren Transformationsprodukten
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2001 , pp. 271
- Thomas Ellerichmann
Analyse chiraler PCB und ihrer Methylsulfonyl-Metaboliten in Biotaproben mit Hilfe enantioselektiver Gas- und Flüssigkeitschromatographie unter Verwendung von Cyclodextrinderivaten
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 2000, pp. 118
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker , ISBN 3-8265-6170
- Robert Gatermann
Verteilung, Anreicherung und Transformation nitroaromatischer und polycyclischer Moschusduftstoffe sowie weiterer N- und P-haltiger Problemstoffe in der Umwelt
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1998, pp. 205
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker , ISBN 3-8265-6170-8
- Kattrin Möller
Verteilung, Schicksal und toxische Wirkung chlorierter, organischer Problemstoffe in der Umwelt und deren ökotoxikologische Bewertung
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1998 , pp. 154
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker, ISBN 3-8265-3771-8
- Johannes Simon-Kutscher
Strukturelle und oberflächenrheologische Untersuchungen von Langmuir-Filmen auf metallionenhaltigen Subphasen
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1997, pp. 182
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker, ISBN 3-8265-3371-2
- Kai Bester
Über Eintrag, Verbleib und Auswirkungen von stickstoff- und phosphorhaltigen Schadstoffen in der Nordsee
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1995, pp. 151
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker , ISBN 3-8265-1114-x
- Bernd Pfaffenberger
Untersuchungen zur enantioselektiven Anreicherung von chiralen organischen Schadstoffen im marinen und terrestrischen Ökosystem
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1995 , pp. 182
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker, ISBN 3-8265-0691-x
- Arne Gericke
Infrarotspektroskopische Charakterisierung von monomolekularen organischen Oberflächenfilmen an der Grenzfläche Wasser/Luft
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1994, pp. 248
can be ordered by Verlag Shaker, ISBN 3-86111-964-1
- Roland Kallenborn
Untersuchungen von ausgewählten chlorierten Schadstoffen im ökologischen Umfeld der Eiderenten (Somateria mollissima (L.)) aus norddeutschen Küstengebieten. Analysen von Seewasser, Muscheln und Eiderentenorganen aus Amrum/Odde, Neuwerk/Scharhörn und Oehe-Schleimünde
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1993 , pp. 396
- Jörn Thomas Faller
Untersuchungen zum photochemischen Abbau von biogenen und anthropogenen halogenierten Kohlenwasserstoffen im Meerwasser
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1992, pp. 167
- Peter Ludwig
Untersuchungen zum enantioselektiven Abbau von polaren und unpolaren chlorierten Kohlenwasserstoffen durch marine Mikroorganismen
Fachbereich Chemie der Universität Hamburg, 1991 , pp. 135
Publikationen
Links
Erika Hühnerfuss(EHuehnerfuss"AT"hotmail.com)
Erika is working with young handicapped children
NatalieHühnerfuss(vasilyh"AT"yahoo.com)
Natalie lives in the Swedish forest.....
see also: http://members.tripod.com/nattis_h/
KatjaHühnerfuss(khuehnerfuss"AT"hotmail.com)
Studies on the assignment of boat models, as found in Egyptian tombsof the Old and Middle Kingdoms, to specific periods
Route66
Route66 Association of Arizona
Donald Huehnerfuss(dhuehner"AT"dwave.net)
Donald`s roots can be traced back to the Huehnerfusses that emigrated to America
Norbert Gschweng
Norbert Gschweng has been tracing back the Huehnerfusses as well asthe Gschwengs as far as these lines point to his family branch of thegenealogical tree (see details)