Atmospheric Chemistry of Toxic Contaminants 1. Reaction Rates and Atmospheric Persistence

Using structure-reactivity relationships between reaction rate constants and ionlzatlon potentials for structural homologues, estimates are presented for the rate constants of the reactions of ozone, the hydroxyl radical, and the nitrate radical with forty toxic air contaminants for which no or little data are available. These rate constants are in turn used to estimate the atmospheric persistence of saturated allphatics, unsaturated allphatics, and aromatic toxic organics. The corresponding atmospheric half-lives for removal by chemical reactions range from a few hours for the most reactive toxics (chloroprene, hexachlorocyclo-pentadiene, cresols, nitrosamines, maleic anhydride) to several months for the least reactive compounds (nitrobenzene, methyl bromide, phosgene).