General Description
Pale yellow needles or yellow crystalline solid.
Reactivity Profile
BENZO[K]FLUORANTHENE can react with strong oxidizing agents. May react with electrophiles, peroxides, nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides
Air & Water Reactions
Insoluble in water.
Hazard
Possible carcinogen.
Health Hazard
ACUTE/CHRONIC HAZARDS: When heated to decomposition this compound emits acrid smoke and irritating fumes.
Fire Hazard
Flash point data for this chemical are not available; however, BENZO(K)FLUORANTHENE(207-08-9) is probably combustible.
Chemical Properties
yellow crystals
Uses
Benzo[k]fluoranthene is used as an optical sensor for nitro-aromatic compounds due to fluorescence quenching of the molecule. It is also a carcinogen and mutagen.
Definition
ChEBI: Benzo[k]fluoranthene is a member of naphthalenes.
Safety Profile
Confirmed carcinogen withexperimental tumorigenic data. Mutation data reported.When heated to decomposition it emits acrid smoke andirritating fumes.
Carcinogenicity
Benzo[k]fluoranthenewastested
for carcinogenicity by dermal application in mice in one
study, intraperitoneal injection into newborn mice
in one study, and intrapulmonary implantation into
rats in one study. Benzo[k]fluoranthene exhibited a
significant carcinogenic activity in the dermal and intrapulmonary
assays.
Source
Benzo[b]fluoranthene and benzo[k]fluoranthene were detected in 8 diesel fuels at
concentrations ranging from 0.0027 to 3.1 mg/L with a mean value of 0.266 mg/L (Westerholm
and Li, 1994). Also present in gasoline (9 μg/L), bitumen (34–1,140 μg/L), crude oil (<1 ppm)
(quoted, Verschueren, 1983), and coal (32.5 g/kg) (Lao et al., 1975).
Based on laboratory analysis of 7 coal tar samples, benzo[k]fluoranthene concentrations ranged
from 350 to 3,000 ppm (EPRI, 1990). Identified in high-temperature coal tar pitches used in
roofing operations at concentrations ranging from 1,670 to 4,500 mg/kg (Malaiyandi et al., 1982).
Nine commercially available creosote samples contained benzo[k]fluoranthene at concentrations
ranging from 2 to 67 mg/kg (Kohler et al., 2000).
Schauer et al. (2001) measured organic compound emission rates for volatile organic
compounds, gas-phase semi-volatile organic compounds, and particle phase organic compounds
from the residential (fireplace) combustion of pine, oak, and eucalyptus. The particle-phase
emission rates of benzo[k]fluoranthene were 0.671 mg/kg of pine burned, 0.303 mg/kg of oak
burned, and 0.286 mg/kg of eucalyptus burned.
California Phase II reformulated gasoline contained benzo[k]fluoranthene at a concentration of
280 μg/kg. Particle-phase tailpipe emission rate from a noncatalyst-equipped gasoline-powered
automobile was 32.7 μg/km (Schauer et al., 2002).
Under atmospheric conditions, a low rank coal (0.5–1 mm particle size) from Spain was burned
in a fluidized bed reactor at seven different temperatures (50 °C increments) beginning at 650 °C.
The combustion experiment was also conducted at different amounts of excess oxygen (5 to 40%) and different flow rates (700 to 1,100 L/h). At 20% excess oxygen and a flow rate of 860 L/h, the
amount of benzo[k]fluoranthene emitted ranged from 0 ng/kg at three temperatures (650, 750, and
950 °C) to 180.5 ng/kg at 850 °C. The greatest amount of PAHs emitted were observed at 750 °C
(Mastral et al., 1999).
Environmental Fate
Soil. Based on aerobic soil die-away test data, the half-life in soil ranged from 910 d to 5.86 yr
(Bossert et al., 1984).
Photolytic. The atmospheric half-life was estimated to range from 1.1 to 11 h (Atkinson, 1987).
Chemical/Physical. Benzo[k]fluoranthene will not hydrolyze because it has no hydrolyzable
functional group (Kollig, 1995).
