Skip Navigation
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document
Use this QR code to view the newest version of this document

Your Environment. Your Health.

Final Progress Reports: Louisiana State University: PXDD/Fs and Optically Active Pollutants (ARRA Funded)

Superfund Research Program

PXDD/Fs and Optically Active Pollutants (ARRA Funded)

Project Leader: Robert M. Strongin (Portland State University)
Grant Number: P42ES013648
Funding Period: 2009-2011

Project-Specific Links

Connect with the Grant Recipients

Visit the grantee's eNewsletter page Visit the grantee's eNewsletter page Visit the grantee's Twitter page Visit the grantee's Facebook page Visit the grantee's Video page

Final Progress Reports

Year:   2010 

This project focuses on the characterization of emissions of brominated and mixed chlorinated/brominated hydrocarbons from combustion/thermal processing of Superfund wastes. In waste processes, both chlorinated and brominated (e.g., flame retardant) materials are incinerated together so it is important to understand the effects of bromo- and bromo-/chlorobenzenes and phenols as well as mixed chlorinated/brominated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans (PXDD/Fs) on surrogates of combustion-generated ultrafine particles. Up until now, progress on elucidating the origin, environmental fate, and biological activity of brominated and mixed chlorinated/brominated hydrocarbons has been hindered by a lack of available standards.

Dr. Strongin’s research group is in the process of synthesizing mixed chloro/bromo PXDD/F standards and developing analytical separation methods for isolating chiral combustion byproducts. Addressing this issue is a specific aim of this project. The researchers have been functionalizing a sulfonamide linker based on its robustness and ease of delinkage of the desired product. The structure of the sulfonamide-functionalized polymer, synthesized in the lab, has been verified by an elemental analysis which showed an increase in the amine content consistent with the literature. They have also been able to identify chlorinated terphenyls with several chiral centers in some soil samples. These compounds have properties similar to other persistent environmental contaminants, for example polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

Back
to Top