Introduction. Poor regulation of active substances in disinfectants in Ukraine holds their legalization on the national market. Cluster approach in the hygienic regulation practice is one of the ways to address this issue. The aim of the study is to establish group-based hygiene regulations for the benzalkonium chloride (BC) cluster. Materials and methods of research. The subject of research is BC homologues. The research is based on the analysis of national and international scientific publications and legislative acts regarding BC toxic effects and hygienic regulations. Results. BC is a mixture of the benzalkonium chloride compounds homologues. The homologues ratio in a mixture plays a key role in assigning CAS numbers to BC. The average lethal doses with oral administration for all BC homologues are below 500 mg/kg. BC skin and oral absorption does not exceed 10 %. BC does not affect reproductive system and does not cause neonatal development abnormalities; it has no carcinogenic and mutagenic properties. Typical adverse effects of BC are related to compound irritant activity. Pursuant to EU regulation 1907/2006, substances with similar physicochemical, toxicological and ecotoxicological properties can be considered as a cluster. The data for reference substance of the cluster make it possible to predict the impact of other substances from this group on human health and environment. In case of BC, alkyl (C12–C16) dimethylbenzylammonium chloride was chosen as the reference substance. In Ukraine, the hygienic regulation sets 0.5 mg/m3 as occupational exposure limit for this substance. Following the clusters principle, it is advisable to introduce group hygiene regulations for all BC homologues based on alkyl (C12–C16) dimethylbenzylammonium chloride.
Conclusions. The implementation of cluster approach when developing exposure limits for chemical compounds in environmental medium makes it possible to introduce group hygienic regulations of 0.5 mg/m3 as occupational exposure limit for all BC homologues.
Key words: alkylbenzyldimethylammonium chloride, benzalkonium chloride, hygiene norm, cluster approach, group hygienic regulations