Contaminants in Drinking Water: Halogenation of Model Compounds of Humic Acid in Methanol

在有机动力学项目的资助下，罗马点拿撒勒学院的希斯利教授将研究与腐殖酸卤化有关的机制。在这项研究中，各种酚将被用作腐植酸的模型。众所周知，酚类残留物是腐植酸的组成部分。这个问题之所以出现，是因为通过卤化来净化饮用水供应是一种常见的做法。关于几乎所有供水中都存在的腐植酸，卤化反应产生的是有毒产品，而不是所需的无毒产品。本研究旨在阐明这一过程的机制，以期为应对不良反应提供方法学支持。为解决一个问题而实施的所有程序往往会在另一个部门产生问题，从而危及整个方法。在这种情况下，饮用水是用氧化剂卤素净化的。虽然这对破坏许多有毒污染物是有效的，但它会将腐植酸等其他物质转化为毒素。本研究将对饮用水净化过程中的不良反应进行研究，以避免饮用水净化过程中有毒产物的形成。这项调查可能对环境敏感的健康问题产生重大影响。

With funding from the Organic Dynamics Program, Professor Heasley at Point Loma Nazarene College will investigate the mechanisms associated with the halogenation of humic acids. In this study, various phenols will be used as models for humic acids. Phenolic residues are known to be building blocks of humic acids. This problem presents itself because it is common practice to purify drinking water supplies by halogenation. With regard to humic acids, which are present in nearly all water supplies, halogenation yields toxic products rather than the desired non-toxic products. This research is intended to elaborate the mechanisms of this process so as to facilitate methodologies to counter the undesirable reaction. All to often procedures implemented to take care of one problem create problems in another sector which compromise the entire methodology. In this case, drinking water is purified with the oxidant, halogen. While this is effective for destroying many toxic contaminants, it converts other substances such as humic acids to toxins. In this research, the undesired reaction will be investigated with the goal of averting the toxic product formation during the drinking water purification procedure. This investigation has potential significant impact on an environmentally sensitive health issue.