SUMMARY Buildings and infrastructures characterize the appearance of our cultural landscapes and provide essential services for the human society. However, they inevitably impact the natural environment e.g. by the structural change of habitats. Additionally, they potentially cause further negative environmental impacts due to the release of chemical substances from construction materials. Galvanic anodes and organic coatings regularly used for corrosion protection of steel structures are building materials of particular importance for the transport infrastructure. In direct contact with a water body or indirectly via the runoff after rainfall, numerous chemicals can be released into the environment and pose a risk to aquatic organisms. Up to now, there is no uniform investigation and evaluation approach for the assessment of the environmental compatibility of building products. Furthermore, galvanic anodes and organic coatings pose particular challenges for their ecotoxicological characterization due to their composition. Therefore, the objective of the presented thesis was the ecotoxicological assessment of emissions from galvanic anodes and protective coatings as well as the development of standardized assessment procedures for these materials. The possible environmental hazard posed by the use of anodes on offshore installations was investigated on three trophic levels. To ensure a realistic and reliable evaluation, the experiments were carried out in natural seawater and under natural pH conditions. Moreover, the anode material and its main components zinc and aluminum were exposed while simulating a worst-case scenario. The anode material examined caused a weak inhibition of algae growth; no acute toxicity was observed on the luminescent bacteria and amphipods. However, an increase of aluminum and indium levels in the crustacean species was found. On the basis of these results, no direct threat has been identified for marine organisms from the use of galvanic aluminum anodes. However, an accumulation of metals in crustaceans and a resulting entry into the marine food web cannot be excluded. The environmental compatibility of organic coating systems was exemplarily evaluated using a selection of relevant products based on epoxy resins (EP) and polyurethanes. For this purpose, coated test plates were dynamically leached over 64 days. The eluates obtained were systematically analyzed for their ecotoxicological effects (acute toxicity to algae and luminescent bacteria, mutagenic and estrogenic effects) and their chemical composition. In particular, the EP-based coatings caused significant bacterial toxicity and estrogen-like effects. The continuously released 4-tert-butylphenol was identified as a main contributor to these effects and was quantified in concentrations exceeding the predicted no effect concentration for freshwater in all samples. Interestingly, the overall toxicity was not governed by the content of 4-tert-butylphenol in the products but rather by the release mechanism of this compound from the investigated polymers. This finding indicates that an optimization of the composition can result in the reduction of emissions and thus of environmental impacts - possibly due to a better polymerization of the compounds. Coatings for corrosion protection are exposed to rain, changes in temperature and sun light leading to a weathering of the polymer. To determine the influence of light-induced aging on the ecotoxicity of top coatings, the emissions and associated adverse effects of UV-irradiated and untreated EP-based products were compared. To that end, the investigation of static leachates was focused on estrogenicity and bacterial toxicity, which were detected in the classic microtiter plate format and in combination with thin-layer plates. Both materials examined showed a significant decrease of the ecotoxicological effects after irradiation with a simultaneous reduction of the 4-tert-butylphenol emission. However, bisphenol A and various structural analogues were detected as photolytic degradation products of the polymers, which also contributed to the observed effects. In this context, the identification of bioactive compounds was supported by the successful combination of in-vitro bioassays with chemical analysis by means of an effect-directed analysis. The presented findings provide important information to assess the general suitability of top coatings based on epoxy resins. Within the scope of the present study, an investigation concept was developed and successfully applied to a selection of relevant construction materials. The adaptation of single standard methods allowed an individual evaluation of these products. At the same time, the suitability of the ecotoxicological methods used for the investigation of materials of unknown and complex composition was confirmed and the basis for a systematic assessment of the environmental compatibility of corrosion protection products was created. Against the background of the European Construction Products Regulation, the chosen approach can facilitate the selection of environmentally friendly products and contributes to the optimization of individual formulations by the simple comparison of different building materials e.g. within a product group.