Emerging Pollutants

Origin, Structure, and Properties

Francisco G. Calvo-Flores, Joaquin Isac-Garcia, Jose A. Dobado, Joaquín Isac-García, José A. Dobado

• Publisher: Wiley-VCH
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9783527691210
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Scienze fisiche
• Subtopic: Chimica organica

An excellent, concise, and interdisciplinary overview of different classes of emerging pollutants arising, for example, from pharmaceuticals, pesticides, personal care products, and industrial chemicals and their impact on water, soil, and air.

Following an introduction to chemical pollutants, with special attention focused on organic compounds and their properties, the book goes on to describe major emerging pollutants grouped according to their applications in different sectors of industrial or economic activity. For each type of compound, the chemical structure, main properties, and source are presented, along with their fate in the environment as pollutants, the latest analytical methods for detection, possible health or ecology consequences, as well as current regulatory laws. New developments, such as nanotechnology as a pollution source, are also included. The book closes with a chapter devoted to conclusions and future perspectives.

Chapter 1
Introduction

1.1 Chemistry and Development

World War II was one of the most destructive periods of modern history for humanity, but also one of the most inventive periods for the design and production of new chemicals. It was an epoch of such unprecedented innovation that this period has been often referred to as a second chemical revolution. That golden age for chemistry has had, for better or for worse, an undeniable influence in our lives and in the development of civilization. Food production, medicine, pharmacology, and defense underwent unprecedented expansion during those years of scientific and technological advances, and these developments are profoundly influential even today. Regardless of the origin and the underlying reasons for such scientific progress, this historical era supported the development of new chemicals and materials that have improved human welfare in terms of health, longevity, and general living conditions both at the global as well as individual scale. This, however, has also imposed an underestimated burden.

During the first half of the twentieth century, the continuous expansion of the chemical industry and the use of chemicals in many aspects of our life contributed toward creating a positive image of chemistry in our society. Things changed, however, during the 1960s, when two widely sold books began to generate a different kind of social awareness of chemistry and chemical compounds. Silent Spring [1], focused on the undesirable effects of the indiscriminate use of pesticides on the environment and Our Stolen Future [2] sought to explain how certain chemicals interact with hormones in humans and wildlife. These two works succeeded in providing a new perspective of chemistry among the populace. The ideas presented in these books, together with information on a series of environmental disasters over the following decades, caused by bad practices in the use and handling of chemicals in certain chemical industries and also by unsafe factory design, cast a dark shadow over everything related to chemistry and chemicals. Examples of severe episodes of pollution are the Seveso (Italy) disaster caused by the 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (2,3,7,8-TCDD) leak in 1976, the Love Canal evacuations in Niagara (New York) caused by the spill of 21,000 t of toxic waste that was buried underground by a local company from the 1940s until 1978, and the Union Carbide leak in Bhopal (India) in 1984, when around half a million people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other substances, and many of them died, which is considered the worst disaster in the chemical industry ever.

All these contributed to an enormous loss of prestige and increased societal concerns about anything related to chemistry throughout the second part of the twentieth century. Despite the many benefits that chemistry has provided for our lives, not to mention that chemistry itself is at the origin of life and existence, the words “chemistry” or “chemical” has taken on a negative connotation in recent times.

Things have begun to change back again in recent decades. Our awareness of the need to preserve the environment for generations to come has risen greatly in the last few years, and is reflected in public opinion, international organizations, governments and, of course, chemists. Profuse legislation has been issued worldwide to set the ac...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Table of Contents
• Epigraph
• Abbreviations
• Glossary
• Preface
• Acknowledgment
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Occurrence and Removal of Environmental Pollutants
• Chapter 3: Detection and Analysis of Chemical Pollutants
• Chapter 4: Overview of Pharmaceutical Products as Emerging Pollutants
• Chapter 5: Therapeutic Classes of PCs in the Environment
• Chapter 6: Illegal Drugs, Occurrence, and Fate in Environment
• Chapter 7: Pesticides as Pollutants
• Chapter 8: Lifestyle Products as Emerging Pollutants
• Chapter 9: Industrial Chemicals as Emerging Pollutant
• Chapter 10: Surfactants in the Environment
• Chapter 11: Personal-Care Products
• Chapter 12: Water Disinfectant By-Products
• Chapter 13: Other Contaminants of Emerging Concern
• InChI Key for the Most Relevant Compounds in this Book
• Index
• End User License Agreement