Halogenated methyl-phenyl ethers (anisoles) in the environment: Determination of vapor pressures, aqueous solubilities, Henry's law constants, and gas/water- (K _gw), n-octanol/water- (K _ow) and gas/n-octanol (K _go) partition coefficients

Abstract.

Halogenated methyl-phenyl ethers (methoxybenzenes, anisoles) are ubiquitous organics in the environment although they are not produced in industrial quantities. Modelling the fate of organic pollutants such as halogenated anisoles requires a knowledge of the fundamental physico-chemical properties of these compounds. The isomer-specific separation and detection of 60 of the 134 possible congeners allowing an environmental fingerprinting are reported in this study. The vapor pressure$p^0 _L$ of more than 60 and further physico-chemical properties of 26 available congeners are given. Vapor pressures $p^0 _L$ , water solubilities $S_W ^L$ , and n-octanol/water partition coefficients K _ow were determined by capillary HR-GC (High Resolution Gas Chromatography) on a non-polar phase and by RP-HPLC (Reversed Phase High Performance Liquid Chromatography) on a C₁₈ phase with chlorobenzenes as reference standards. From these experimental data the Henry's law constants H, and the gas/water K _gw and gas/n-octanol K _go partition coefficients were calculated. We found that vapor pressures, water solubilities, and n-octanol/water partition coefficients of the halogenated anisoles are close to those of the chlorobenzenes. A similar environmental fate of both groups can, therefore, be predicted.