Organic Chemistry and the Environment

Another important issue that is often omitted in popular reporting is that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. Many completely unrelated phenomena can be technically correlated. Sometimes the circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk. However, in order to establish true causation, some process for the causation needs to be established—it is not enough to say that some bad effect has increased along with some pollutant you need to find out how and why. 

Much environmental legislation is informed by the precautionary principle —which we all heard as children as better safe than sorry. This essentially tells us that we should not wait for 

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The present volume of the series focuses on the interplay between organisms and the physical chemistry of the environmental media in which they live. It critically discusses the different physicochemical and biophysical features of the kinetics of processes at the biointerface, with special attention given to aspects such as bioavailability of chemical species, analysis of the necessary mass transfer towards/from the biointerface, routes of transfer through the biomembrane, etc. This volume was realised within the framework of the activities of the former IUPAC Commission on Fundamental Environmental Chemistry of the Division of Chemistry and the Environment. We thank the IUPAC officers responsible, especially the executive director, Dr John Jost, for their support and assistance. We also thank the International Council for Science (ICSU) for financial support of the work of the Commission. This enabled us to organise the discussion meeting of the full team of chapter authors (in Diibendorf, Switzerland, 2001) which formed such an essential step in the preparation and harmonisation of the various chapters of this book. 

Feilberg, A., and T. Nielsen, Model Systems to Simulate Photochemistry in the Organic Liquid Phase of Combustion Aerosols, presented at the 6th FECS Conference on Chemistry and the Environment, Atmospheric Chemistry and Air Pollution, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, August 26-28, 1998. 

In this book, the treatment first follows traditional compartments (Chapters 2, 3, 4, and 5) although some exchanges with other compartments are considered. Fundamental aspects of the science of atmosphere, waters, and soils are described, together with current environmental questions, exemplified by case studies. Subsequently, the organic chemistry of the environment is considered in Chapter 6, and quantitative aspects of transfer across phase boundaries are described in Chapter 7, where examples are given of biogeochemical cycles. 

The Polymer Division is one of the eight lUPAC Divisions, which include the Division for Physical and Biophysical Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry, Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, Chemistry and Human Health, Chemistry and the Environment, and Chemical Nomenclature and Stmctural Representation. 

Biochemical reactions parallel those in organic chemistry and, for both of them, a mechanistic approach has proved valuable. In addition, most of the principles that have emerged apply equally to the aquatic, the atmospheric, and the terrestrial environments. 

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