Atmospheric Lifetime of Fluorotelomer Alcohols

Abstract

Relative rate techniques were used to study the kinetics of the reactions of Cl atoms and OH radicals with a series of fluorotelomer alcohols, F(CF2CF2)nCH2CH2OH (n = 2, 3, 4), in 700 Torr of N2 or air, diluent at 296 +/- 2K. The length of the F(CF2CF2)n- group had no discernible impact on the reactivity of the molecule. For n = 2, 3, or 4, k(Cl + F(CF2CF2)nCH2CH2OH) = (1.61 +/- 0.49) x 10(-11) and k(OH + F(CF2CF2)nCH2CH2OH) = (1.07 +/- 0.22) x 10(-12) cm3 molecule(-1) s(-1). Consideration of the likely rates of other possible atmospheric loss mechanisms leads to the conclusion that the atmospheric lifetime of F(CF2CF2)nCH2CH2OH (n > or = 2) is determined by reaction with OH radicals and is approximately 20 d.

Neutral polyfluoroalkyl substances in the atmosphere over the northern South China Sea

“…They have been observed not only in urban areas (Ahrens et al, 2012;Dreyer and Ebinghaus, 2009;Li et al, 2011), but also in remote areas (Cai et al, 2012a;Del Vento et al, 2012;Shoeib et al, 2010;Wang et al, 2015;Xie et al, 2013Xie et al, , 2015. In smog chamber studies, the atmospheric lifetimes were estimated to be approximately 20 days for FTOHs and 20e50 days for FASAs due to their slow reaction with OH radicals (Ellis et al, 2003;Martin et al, 2006). The reaction with OH radicals is suggested as the most important degradation mechanism rather than other processes such as photolysis, wet and dry depositions, reactions with NO 3 radicals, Cl atom and O 3 etc.…”

Occurrence and fate of perfluoroalkyl substances in marine sediments from the Chinese Bohai Sea, Yellow Sea, and East China Sea

“…Relatively volatile perfluoroalkyl precursors such as fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs), perfluoroalkyl sulfonamides (FASAs) and perfluoroalkylsulfonamidoethanols (FASEs) were transported via the atmosphere and subject to photolytic degradation in the air (Ellis et al, 2004(Ellis et al, , 2003, whereas the ionisable PFASs such as PFCAs and PFSAs are predominantly transported via the ocean current (Prevedouros et al, 2006). This work is a systematic survey of PFASs in the sediments of the BS, YS and ECS of China.…”

Endocrine disruption and reproductive impairment in zebrafish by exposure to 8:2 fluorotelomer alcohol

“…The annual global production is estimated at 11 to 14 × 10 6 kg (Ellis et al, 2003). Due to the volatile character of FTOHs, these compounds could undergo long-range transport and were found to have a global distribution in atmosphere (Stock et al, 2004;Shoeib et al, 2006;Jahnke et al, 2007).…”