The use of amino compounds for binding 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in water

Sites polluted with 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) constitute a worldwide prob lem. In this work, chemical reactions for binding TNT to amino-compounds ar e proposed as an initial step for developing new remediation techniques to clean-up groundwater and soils contaminated with TNT. Indeed, addition of a niline and an amino acid-like cysteine caused a decrease in free TNT of 86% and 68-100%, respectively. Using C-13-NMR spectroscopy, it was shown that TNT chemically forms a Meisenheimer complex with cysteine and aniline in 1/ 1 (by vol.) H2O/d(6)-acetone. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Al rights rese rved.