Testing of the abiotic degradation of chemicals in the atmosphere: the smog chamber approach.

Methods for measuring the hydroxyl-, ozone-, and direct photochemical reactivity of a substance in one specially designed medium size smog chamber are described. Rate coefficients for the reaction of OH with n-hexane, n-heptane, ethene, ethyne, chloroform, trichloroethene, methanol, 2-propanol, benzene, o-xylene, 1,4-dichlorobenzene, 1,2,4-trichlorobenzene, p-chloroaniline, naphthalene, acenaphthene, 1,4-dichloronaphthalene, biphenyl, and fluorenone are given and discussed. An upper limit of 5 X 10(-13) cm3/sec is given for the sum penta- and hexa-chlorobiphenyls (PCB). Rate coefficients for the ozone reaction are given for beta-pinene, limonene, delta 3-carene, cineol, vinyl chloride and 1,3-butadiene. In cases where the literature data are available for comparison, the rate coefficients (kappa OH and kappa O3) reported here compare favorably with the best data reported. The direct photochemical reactivity has been shown to be measurable if the chamber is cleaned carefully. Preliminary results on benzophenone are reported. The methods described here, except that of direct photochemical reactivity, are in agreement with those proposed to OECD. Moreover, part of the Draft OECD Test Guideline (Berlin, 1987) on "Photochemical-Oxidative Degradation in the Atmosphere" is based on work described here and on closely related work in other laboratories (Becker et al., 1984).