Environmental Fates of Organic Chemicals

This book will mainly be about environmental fate processes, and in particular about a certain subset of these fate processes namely, organic chemical reactions. Specifically, if a particular organic chemical is introduced into the environment, what will happen to it How much can we tell from physical measurements of the chemical s properties, how much can we learn from lab experimentation, and how much do we need to learn directly from measurements on the chemical in the actual environment The sort of questions that have been asked are  

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Klopffer, W., Rippen, G., Frische, R. (1982) Physicochemical properties as useful tools for predicting the environmental fate of organic chemicals. Ecotoxicol. Environ. Saf. 6, 294—301. 

These models require accurate data on physico-chemical properties of organic substances, which is the subject of Dr. Mackay s other interest, namely their measurement and correlation. This includes the compilation and critical review of these properties and their quantitative structure property relationships. He is co-author of the five-volume Illustrated Handbook of Physical Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate of Organic Chemicals, which documents data reported in the literature, and is also available in CD-ROM format from CRC Press. Dr. Mackay s hope is that a combination of the information reported in these handbooks, and the estimated data as described in the present volume, can provide a sound basis for assessment of the large and growing number of chemical substances of environmental concern. 

Collette, T.W. 1992. Infrared spectroscopy-base property-reactivity correlations for predicting environmental fate of organic chemicals. Environ. Toxicol. Chem. 11 981-991. 

Mackay D, Wan-Ying S, Kuo-Ching M. 1997. Illustrated handbook of physical-chemical properties and environmental fate of organic chemicals. Boca Raton (FL) Lewis Publishers, 704 p. 

Mackay, D., Shiu, W.Y., and Ma, K.C., Illustrated Handbook of Physical Chemical Properties and Environmental Fate of Organic Chemicals, vols. 1-5, Lewis Publishers, Boca Raton, FL, 1992-1997. 

This describes one of the most basic kinds of calculations, which nonetheless can be quite powerful. More sophisticated methods, which take account of transport times within the environment and breakdown rates of chemicals are also available. Such models are widely used in predicting the environmental fate of organic chemicals. 

Analytical solutions to transport equations that simultaneously consider adsorption and transformation, when used in concert with appropriate soil column techniques, offer substantial promise for study of the environmental fate of organic chemicals. Such methods can be widely used since a number of such solutions already exist in the scientific literature. It remains only to design research programs in which those who understand such equations are working with those who can design and execute complementary chemical studies. 

In this section, we introduce examples of the application of our multi-media models, MNSEM and MAC for evaluating the environmental fate of organic chemicals under generic and site-specific conditions in Japan. 

In recent years the octanol/water partition coefficient has become a key parameter in studies of the environmental fate of organic chemicals. It has been found to be related to water solubility, soil/sediment adsorption coefficients, and bioconcentration factors for aquatic life. (Estimation of these three parameters solely on the basis of Kuw is described in Chapters 2, 4, and 5 respectively.) Because of its increasing use in the estimation of these other properties, Kow is considered a required property in studies of new or problematic chemicals. 

In recent years the octanol/water partition coefficient has become a key parameter in studies of the environmental fate of organic chemicals. It has been found to be related to water solubility, soil/sediment adsorption coefficients, and bioconcentration factors... 

Mill, T. 1980. Data needed to predict the environmental fate of organic chemicals. In R. Haque (Ed.), Dynamics, exposure and hazard assessment of toxic chemicals, Ann Arbor Science Publishers, Ann Arbor, Michigan, pp. 297-322. 

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