Chemical partitioning

Sorption of Perfluoroalkyl Phosphonates and Perfluoroalkyl Phosphinates in Soils, Holly Lee and Scott A. Mabury, Environ. Sci. Technol., 2017, 51 (6), pp 3197–3205.

In Chapter 14, chemical partitioning will continue to be our focus for understanding how various new and old organic pollutant molecules find their way ubiquitously to all parts of the environment. This paper examines a new class of molecules known as perfluoroalkyl phosphonates (PFPAs) and perfluoroalkyl phosphinates (PFPiAs) belonging to the recently discovered perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs). The authors describe that these molecules have been widely detected in house dust, aquatic biota, surface water, and wastewater environments and provide calculated log Kd values under a variety of conditions.

Visualising the equilibrium distribution and mobility of organic contaminants in soil using the chemical partitioning space, Wongab F., and F. Wania, J. Environ. Monit. 2011, 13, 1569 (Published by RCS, April 2011)

Our discussion of the partitioning and distribution of chemical species is enhanced by this paper, providing a more in-depth characterization of the variety of processes involved. This topic also clearly relates to section 20.2, where we discuss mobility of organic compounds in the soil environment. (see also Chapter 20)

Biomagnification

Biomagnification of higher brominated PBDE congeners in an urban terrestrial food web in north China based on field observation of prey deliveries, Yu, Le-H., Xiao-J. Luo, Jiang-P. Wu, Li-Y. Liu, J. Song, Quan-H. Sun, Xiu-L. Zhang, D. Chen, and Bi-X. Mai, Environ. Sci. Technol. 2011, 45, 5125–5131 (published by ACS, May 2011)

This paper provides a good recent example of ‘new’ chemical species finding their way into the food chain. This is a clear example of the principles set out in Chapter 14 (pp 337-344) on bioaccumulation.