Dirty dozen chemicals persistent organic

Chlorinated micropoUutants are harmful for man and environment due to their toxicity, persistence, and bioaccumulation. Persistent compounds are very stable and difficult to get metabolized and mineralized by biological and chemical processes in the environment, and as a result, they have become ubiquitous in water, sediments, and the atmosphere bioaccumulation is the result of the lipophilicity of these compounds. Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins and -furans (PCDD/F) are not produced purposely like many of other chlorinated technical products, such as chlorinated biocides DDT, lindane, and toxaphene. The production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), the dirty dozen has now been banned worldwide by the Stockholm protocol. It should be mentioned that about 3000 halogenated products have now been isolated as natural products in plants, microorganisms, and animals," but the total amount of these products is much smaller compared to xenobiotics. 

In Chapter 13, we learned about the "dirty dozen"—12 chemical compounds that have been targeted by governments arotmd the world to be banned. These compounds are known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because once they enter the environment, they remain for long periods of time. Examine the structures of the compounds shown here. What functional groups can you identify within the compounds (They may have more than one.) What structural features do many of these compounds have in common ... 

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