Phthalate esters (dialkyl or alkylarylesters of 1,2-benzenedicarboxylic acid, also known as PAEs) are a family ofchemicals abundantly used since 1930 for a wide spectrum of dif-ferent industrial applications. PAEs are chemically produced by thereaction of phthalic anhydride with straight-chain or branchedalcohols. Therefore, a large variety of PAEs can be synthetized witha wide range of different physical and chemical properties accord-ing to their specific use (Moret, Marega, Conte, & Purcaro, 2012;Russo, Avino, Perugini, & Notardonato, 2015; Staples, 2003).High-molecular weight species, such as bis(2-ethylhexyl) phtha-late (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DIMP), are applied as plasti-