title: Photochemical decomposition of environmentally persistent short-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids in water mediated by iron(II)/(III) redox reactions.
abstract: The photochemical decomposition of short-chain (C(3)-C(5)) perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) was investigated. Direct photolysis in water proceeded slowly with the 220- to 460-nm light emission from a xenon-mercury lamp to form F(-), CO(2), and shorter-chain PFCAs. Addition of a small amount of Fe(3+) to the aqueous solutions of the PFCAs dramatically enhanced their photochemical decomposition under an oxygen atmosphere: when the (initial PFCA)/(initial Fe(3+)) molar ratio was 13.5 (initial PFCA concentration=67.3mM), the pseudo-first-order rate constants for the PFCA decomposition were 3.6-5.3 times those with photolysis alone, and the turnover number for the catalytic PFCA decomposition [i.e., (moles of decomposed PFCA)/(moles of initial Fe(3+))] reached 6.71-8.68 after 24h of irradiation. The catalysis can be explained by photoredox reactions between PFCA, Fe(3+)/Fe(2+) and oxygen via photo-induced complexation of Fe(3+) with the PFCAs.
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), AIST Tsukuba West, 16-1Onogawa, Tsukuba 305-8569, Japan. h-hori@aist.go.jp
authors.forename: Hisao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hori
authors.forename: Ari
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Kazuhide
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Shuzo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kutsuna
authors.forename: Issey
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Osaka
authors.forename: Ryuichi
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Arakawa
mesh_terms: D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000737:chemistry*; D007501:Iron / Q000737:chemistry*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010777:Photochemistry; D014867:Water / Q000737:chemistry*; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D005466:Fluorocarbons; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D014867:Water; D007501:Iron