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July 12, 2010 - Volume 88, Number 28
- p. 31
- DOI: 10.1021/CEN070810125226
Science & Technology Concentrates
More Science & Technology Concentrates
- Sensing Volatiles In Color
- A gold-dicopper complex shifts its luminescence emission wavelength when exposed to VOCs.
- Dioxin Levels Plummet
- A long-term study of dioxin levels in the environment points to significant reductions during the 1990s.
- Nanostructures Form Like Polymers
- Novel nanorod self-assembly process resembles step-growth polymerization.
- Thiols Drive Mercury Photodegradation
- Chloride outcompetes organic thiols in seawater, allowing methylmercury to bioaccumulate in seafood.
- Mapping Eye Membranes
- A better understanding of the morphology of a membrane in the eye could lead to better surgical tools.
Topics Covered
Mercury accumulates in seafood at high levels even though the amount that is found in seawater is small. But why has been unclear, until now. Duke University’s Tong Zhang and Heileen Hsu-Kim have found that singlet oxygen (1O2) formed by sunlight falling on dissolved organic matter drives methylmercury (CH3Hg+) photodecomposition (Nat. Geosci., DOI: 10.1038/ngeo892). However, degradation of CH3Hg+, a neurotoxin that accumulates in food webs and poses a risk to human health, depends on the type of binding ligand present in the water. For example, in freshwater, CH3Hg+ degradation occurred at low CH3Hg+ concentration and only when humic acid was present, the researchers showed. They suggest that complexes formed between CH3Hg+ and thiols in humic acid are necessary for the breakdown to occur. But in seawater, where chloride dominates over thiols, degradation rates were an order of magnitude slower.
- Chemical & Engineering News
- ISSN 0009-2347
- Copyright © 2011 American Chemical Society
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