Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
One of the largest deliberate PCB spills in American history occurred in the summer of 1978 when 31,000 gallons (117 m^3) of PCB-contaminated oil were illegally sprayed by the Ward PCB Transformer Company in 3-foot (0.91 m) swaths along the roadsides of some 240 miles (390 km) of North Carolina highway shoulders in 14 counties and at the Fort ...
A group of carcinogenic organic compounds, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), is an example of a congener grouping. The number and locations of Cl groups can vary. In chemistry, congeners are chemical substances "related to each other by origin, structure, or function". [1]
The inclusion of PCBs as a PBT may be attributed to their low water solubility, high stability, and semi-volatility facilitating their long range transport and accumulation in organisms. [5] The persistence of these compounds is due to the high resistance to oxidation, reduction, addition, elimination and electrophilic substitution. [ 6 ]
Test results conducted in the fall showed the presence of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls — toxic, man-made chemicals that were banned from being produced in the United States in 1979.
Congener descriptors give a shorthand notation for geometry and substituent positions. The twelve congeners that display all four of the descriptors are referred to as being "dioxin-like", referring both to their toxicity and structural features which make them similar to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2378-TCDD). [1]
PCB-compounds, always containing low concentrations of dioxin-like PCBs and PCDFs, were synthesized for various technical purposes (see Polychlorinated biphenyls). They have entered the environment through accidents such as fires or leaks from transformers or heat exchangers, or from PCB-containing products in landfills or during incineration.
Exposure to the coplanar stereoisomer 3,3',4,4',5,5'-hexabromobiphenyl (but not the non-coplanar stereoisomer) in genetically susceptible mice is known to cause immunotoxicity and disorders related to the central nervous system, and even at doses as low as 2.5 mg/kg, excess neonatal fatalities are observed (LD 50 is from 5–10 mg/kg). [1]
Bioremediation of PCBs is the use of microorganisms to degrade PCBs from contaminated sites, relying on multiple microorganisms' co-metabolism. Anaerobic microorganisms dechlorinate PCBs first, and other microorganisms that are capable of doing BH pathway can break down the dechlorinated PCBs to usable intermediates like acyl-CoA or carbon ...