In order to understand the fate of organic pollutants in the aqueous environment, one of the most important natural phenomenon to be expected is photodegradation. Humic acids (HA) are the most important photosensitizer in the ocean and it generates highly reactive oxygen species (ROS) to degrade the organic pollutants. Three ROS 1O2, O2-●, and ●OH generated from aldrich humic acid (AHA) were measured with different probe compounds, which were fufuryl alcohol (FFA), nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT), and coumarin, and simple instrumental techniques alongside the photodegradation rate of target compounds. In this study, hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), the newly listed persistent organic pollutants (POPs) on Stockholm convention, was chosen for understanding of phototransformation mechanisms and it has not been enough investigated for environmental fate and transport in spite of own distinctive features of each diastereoisomer. The results presented herein show that diastereoisomer-specific distribution of α-, β-, and γ-HBCD is related to acceleration or retardation of photodegradation in the presence of AHA under the simulated solar light and only α-HBCD was rapidly photodegraded as AHA increased in comparison with absence of that and it provides the first characterization of the behavior of photosensitized HBCD.

Photosensitized diastereoisomer-specific degradation of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) in the presence of humic acid

251st National Meeting (2016)

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