Due to concerns about its ability to cause endocrine disruption, bisphenol A (BPA) has largely been phased out of consumer goods. In many cases, bisphenol analogues (BPs) have been used in place of BPA. Recent studies have shown that these BPA replacements can be detected in human urine, household dust, and river sediments. Even though these studies suggest that the bisphenols used as BPA replacements may be ubiquitous, little is known about their environmental fates. We thus examined the photochemical behavior of several such bisphenols (BPS, BPF, BPZ, and BPAP) under simulated and natural sunlight. All four of the studied BPs were photolabile, with BPS degrading by direct photolysis and the others primarily through sensitized processes. The late summer half-life of BPS in pH 7 water at 47� latitude was measured to be 17 hours. Indirect photolysis with natural organic matter (NOM) as sensitizer significantly increased the rates of transformation of BPF, BPZ, and BPAP. Quenching and solvent isotope effect studies indicate that reaction pathways involving excited state triplet NOM and singlet oxygen are primarily responsible for the rate enhancements seen with these BPs.

Photochemistry of bisphenols: Rates and pathways of degradation of BPA replacement compounds

248th National Meeting (2014)

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