title: Evaluation of photolysis and hydrolysis of atrazine and its first degradation products in the presence of humic acids.
abstract: Relative importance of hydrolysis and photolysis of atrazine and its degradation products in aqueous solutions with dissolved humic acids (HA) has been assessed under exposure to sunlight and under UV irradiation. Quantum yield for direct photolysis of atrazine at 254 nm was 0.037 mol photon(-1), the reaction order was 0.8. Atrazine, desethylatrazine and desisopropylatrazine converted to their 2-hydroxy analogs with rate constants 0.02-0.08 min(-1) in clear solutions, while addition of HA (300 mg L(-1)) caused a 10-fold increase in rate constants. Hydroxyatrazine was not degraded. No evidence of photo-Fenton reaction was found. Under exposure to solar light, atrazine, desethylatrazine and desisopropylatrazine were converted to 2-hydroxy analogs only at pH 2 because of acid hydrolysis and possible contribution of photolysis. At lower HA concentration, only their light-shielding effect was noticed, while at higher concentrations, HA-catalysed hydrolysis prevailed. Hydroxyatrazine concentration diminished at all pH values in solutions without HA exposed to sunlight.
authors.affiliation: University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Askerceva 5, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia. helena.prosen@uni-lj.si
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Prosen
authors.forename: Lucija
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zupancic-Kralj
mesh_terms: D001280:Atrazine / Q000737:chemistry*; D002021:Buffers; D002845:Chromatography / Q000379:methods; D006812:Humic Substances; D006868:Hydrolysis; D010575:Pesticides / Q000737:chemistry*; D010782:Photolysis; D013472:Sunlight; D014466:Ultraviolet Rays; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D002021:Buffers; D006812:Humic Substances; D010575:Pesticides; C405102:desethylatrazine; D014867:Water; D001280:Atrazine