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Environment

Iron complexes take on problem pesticides

September 11, 2006 | A version of this story appeared in Volume 84, Issue 37

Iron(III) tetraamido macrocy- clic ligand (TAML) complexes previously developed by Terrence J. Collins at Carnegie Mellon University increase the oxidizing power of hydrogen peroxide under mild conditions, making the inexpensive catalysts useful for many environmental cleanup processes. Some examples include treating pulp and paper processing by-products, reducing sulfur in fuels, deactivating bacterial spores, and degrading trace amounts of environmentally problematic compounds in water. In a new application, Collins and his coworkers report, TAML catalysts (one shown) can completely degrade the thiophosphate triester pesticides fenitrothion, parathion, and chlorpyrifos methyl, which are under scrutiny as hormone-disrupting chemicals (J. Am. Chem. Soc., DOI: 10.1021/ja064017e). Standard chemical and enzyme-mediated hydrolysis processes used to detoxify pesticide stockpiles or clean up contaminated sites produce hydrolysates that often contain toxic degradation compounds that require further treatment, Collins notes. The low-toxicity TAML catalysts, used at micromolar concentrations, quickly convert the pesticides primarily to low-toxicity small organic acids, dimethyl phosphate, SO42-, NO2-, and NO3-.

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