Mapping the Photochemistry of European Mid-Latitudes Rivers: An Assessment of Their Ability to Photodegrade Contaminants
Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Torino, Via Pietro Giuria 5, 10125 Torino, Italy
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Academic Editor: Barbara Bonelli
Molecules 2020, 25(2), 424; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25020424
Received: 19 December 2019
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Revised: 9 January 2020
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Accepted: 14 January 2020
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Published: 20 January 2020
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Photochemical Processes in Sunlit Surface and Atmospheric Waters)
The abiotic photochemical reactions that take place naturally in sunlit surface waters can degrade many contaminants that pose concern to water bodies for their potentially toxic and long-term effects. This works aims at assessing the ability of European rivers to photoproduce reactive transient intermediates, such as HO• radicals and the excited triplet states of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (3CDOM*), involved in pollutant degradation. A photochemical mapping of the steady-state concentrations of these transients was carried out by means of a suitable modeling tool, in the latitude belt between 40 and 50°N. Such a map allowed for the prediction of the photochemical lifetimes of the phenylurea herbicide isoproturon (mostly undergoing photodegradation upon reaction with HO• and especially 3CDOM*) across different European countries. For some rivers, a more extensive dataset was available spanning the years 1990–2002, which allowed for the computation of the steady-state concentration of the carbonate radicals (CO3•−). With these data, it was possible to assess the time trends of the photochemical half-lives of further contaminants (atrazine, ibuprofen, carbamazepine, and clofibric acid). The calculated lifetimes were in the range of days to weeks, which might or might not allow for efficient depollution depending on the river-water flow velocity.
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Keywords:
Indirect photochemistry; hydroxyl radicals; direct photolysis; photochemical modeling; dissolved organic matter; CDOM
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MDPI and ACS Style
Carena, L.; Vione, D. Mapping the Photochemistry of European Mid-Latitudes Rivers: An Assessment of Their Ability to Photodegrade Contaminants. Molecules 2020, 25, 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25020424
AMA Style
Carena L, Vione D. Mapping the Photochemistry of European Mid-Latitudes Rivers: An Assessment of Their Ability to Photodegrade Contaminants. Molecules. 2020; 25(2):424. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25020424
Chicago/Turabian StyleCarena, Luca, and Davide Vione. 2020. "Mapping the Photochemistry of European Mid-Latitudes Rivers: An Assessment of Their Ability to Photodegrade Contaminants" Molecules 25, no. 2: 424. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules25020424
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