Hh. Richnow et al., METABOLITES OF XENOBIOTICA AND MINERAL-OIL CONSTITUENTS LINKED TO MACROMOLECULAR ORGANIC-MATTER IN POLLUTED ENVIRONMENTS, Organic geochemistry, 22(3-5), 1994, pp. 671-681
The type of association between pollutants and humic substances of soi
ls, sediments and river waters has been investigated. Metabolites, whi
ch can arise from the microbiological degradation of polyaromatic hydr
ocarbons (PAH) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), were cleaved from
the macromolecular matrix by selective chemical degradation techniques
(OH-, BCl3, Rh/H-2). Hydrolysis reactions performed with (NaOH)-O-18
proved that some metabolites of pollutants form stable ester bonds by
condensation processes with functional groups of humic substances, a p
henomenon which has major implications for transport, toxicity and bio
availability of xenobiotica.