Organolead compounds pollution

The main concern regarding tetraalkyl lead has been about human health hazards, a concern that has resulted in the progressive replacement of leaded petrol by unleaded petrol in most countries (Environmental Health Criteria 85). There has been particular concern about possible brain damage to children in polluted urban areas. Little work has been done on the effects of organolead compounds on wildlife or ecosystems, so the following account will be brief. 

Lobiriski, R. 1995. Organolead compounds in archives of environmental pollution. Analyst 120 615-621. 

Practical use of organolead compounds will be hardly extended due to their high toxicity and the possibility of sustainable pollution of the environment by the lead compounds. In this connection it must be indicated that the production of tetraethyllead, which achieved 270,000 tons by 1964 only in the USA, started to be reduced at the end of the 20th century. 

Organolead compounds are pollutants in air, water, soil, and sediments. The toxicity of organolead species depends on the organic groups bound to the Pb atom. Lead has four stable isotopes ( Pb, Pb, Pb, and Pb) and isotopic analysis of Pb can be used for geological dating and to track environmental processes and sources of Pb species. 

The body burden of organolead compounds in urban populations is probably primarily caused by the uptake of R4Pb from air. Therefore, sources of air pollution are of particular interest. 

De Jonghe, W., Adams, F., Organolead Compounds in the Atmosphere, COST 61a bis, 2nd Disc. Meeting Working Party 1. Detection, Identification and Analysis of Air Pollutants, Vienna 1982, pp. 17/23. 

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