Physical-Chemical Property Data for Dibenzo-p-dioxin (DD), Dibenzofuran (DF), and Chlorinated DD/Fs: A Critical Review and Recommended Values

Abstract

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins ͑PCDDs͒ and polychlorinated dibenzofurans ͑PCDFs͒ are of global concern due to their persistence, their tendency to bioaccumulate, and their extremely high toxicity. The fate of the PCDD/Fs in the environment is largely determined by their physical-chemical properties, such as solubility in water ͑S W , mol m −3 ͒, solubility in octanol ͑S O , mol m −3 ͒, and vapor pressure ͑P, Pa͒. It is not unusual that the range of reported values for a given property varies over several orders of magnitude, especially for the highly chlorinated congeners, and consequently, it is a challenge to select physical-chemical property data from the literature for use in chemical fate and risk assessments. In the current study, physical-chemical property data ͓P, S W , S O , Henry's law constant ͑H͒, partitioning coefficients between octanol-water ͑K OW ͒ and octanol-air ͑K OA ͔͒ for 15 DDs and 17 DFs at 293-299 K are compiled from the literature and evaluated to select literature derived values that are then adjusted to conform to thermodynamic constraints using a least-squares adjustment procedure. We also present an analysis of available data on internal energies of phase change ͑⌬U A , ⌬U W , ⌬U O , ⌬U OW , ⌬U AW , ⌬U OA ͒ at 298 K, which describe the temperature dependence of the partitioning properties. The final adjusted values ͑FAVs͒ derived from this study are recommended as physical-chemical property data for PCDD/Fs for use in environmental fate modeling. The FAVs for internal energies of phase change can be used as a first approximation for estimating properties at temperatures other than 298 K.

Polychlorinated biphenyls in sediments and fish species from the Murchison Bay of Lake Victoria, Uganda

“…The PCBs undergo long-range transport causing global pollution (Wiberg et al, 2009;Sundqvist et al, 2009a, b). Furthermore, the contaminants can accumulate in sediments close to point sources and in benthic organisms and fish due to their hydrophobic nature, low metabolic transformation and long half-lives (Suedel et al, 1994;Jönsson et al, 2003;Åberg et al, 2008;Lavandier et al, 2013). Fish can be an important monitoring tool, because they concentrate PCBs directly from water through their diet, and indicate hazards to piscivorous predators and humans (Van der Oost et al, 2003;Huang et al, 2006;Gustavson et al, 2008;Parnell et al, 2008).…”

Comparing sediment equilibrium partitioning and passive sampling techniques to estimate benthic biota PCDD/F concentrations in Newark Bay, New Jersey (U.S.A.)

“…For example, in the AK, C lip,OC+BC determined using 358 sediment-specific K BC s was a factor of 1.1 higher than C lip (compared to 1.6x lower for 359 porewater PE), and in the KVK and MB, C lip,OC+BC determined using sediment-specific K BC s 360 was, on average, 4x lower than C lip (compared to 3.1x lower for porewater PE). 361 362 Though C lip,OC+BC from sediment-specific K BC s and C lip,PEpw were both good predictors of 363 C lip , each estimator contains uncertainties related to partition coefficients; namely, K PE-w s, BAFs, 364 and in the case of C lip,OC+BC , K OC s. We assumed that K PE-w and K OC values had relative 365 uncertainties of 100%, given that both were calculated from K OW , and K OW s of these congeners 366 are reported to have a high-end uncertainty of 100% (Aberg et al, 2008). We assigned a 100% 367 relative uncertainty to the conversion of dissolved concentrations to lipid-based from BAFs.…”

PCDD/F release during benthic trawler‐induced sediment resuspension

“…Modeled sampling rates for PCDD/Fs under boundary layer-controlled uptake are supported by those found for fluoranthene and pyrene through in situ calibration [10]. The relatively lower confidence in measured K OW values and modeled rather than measured sampler-water partition coefficients (K SW ) values for highly hydrophobic PCDD/Fs results in further uncertainty when applying the polynomial relationship [17,21,22]. The assumption of similar PCDD/F sampling rates into both P and C samplers is also supported by identical sampler deployment, that is, the use of similar cages and towing of samplers under the same conditions.…”

“…The empirical log R s -log K OW polynomial model for SPMDs [17] was applied here, and R s values of 1.6 to 5.7 L h À1 (Supplemental Data, Table S6) were obtained. The relatively lower confidence in measured K OW values and modeled rather than measured sampler-water partition coefficients (K SW ) values for highly hydrophobic PCDD/Fs results in further uncertainty when applying the polynomial relationship [17,21,22]. The effect of the uncertainty in log K OW for PCDD/Fs on R s values from this polynomial relationship was assessed through testing of log K OW values from three different sources (Supplemental Data, Table S5).…”