Ecotoxicology of organofluorous compounds.

Margaret B Murphy, Eva I H Loi, Karen Y Kwok, Paul K S Lam

Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. mbmurphy@cityu.edu.hk

Topics in current chemistry 2012

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Organofluorous compounds have been developed for myriad purposes in a variety of fields, including manufacturing, industry, agriculture, and medicine. The widespread use and application of these compounds has led to increasing concern about their potential ecological toxicity, particularly because of the stability of the C-F bond, which can result in chemical persistence in the environment. This chapter reviews the chemical properties and ecotoxicology of four groups of organofluorous compounds: fluorinated refrigerants and propellants, per- and polyfluorinated compounds (PFCs), fluorinated pesticides, and fluoroquinolone antibiotics. These groups vary in their environmental fate and partitioning, but each raises concern in terms of ecological risk on both the regional and global scale, particularly those compounds with long environmental half-lives. Further research on the occurrence and toxicities of many of these compounds is needed for a more comprehensive understanding of their ecological effects.