Chemical Properties
Viscous, oily, colorless to light yellow, mobile liquid with a faint, characteristic, aromatic-type
odor
Uses
In polyvinyl acetate to improve fiber-tear properties; plasticizer for polystyrene; in epoxy
resins and polyvinyl acetate to improve adhesion and resistance to chemical attack; as an insulator
fluid for electric condensers and as an additive in very high pressure lubricants. In fluorescent and
high-intensity discharge ballasts manufactured prior to 1979 (U.S. EPA, 1998).
At a concentration of 5 to 25 wt %, increased the effective kill-life of the lindane spray up to 10
times. May have been used in chlordane and BHC insecticide formulations (Monsanto, 1960).
Environmental Fate
Biological. Reported degradation products by the microorganism Alcaligenes BM-2 for a
mixture of polychlorinated biphenyls include monohydroxychlorobiphenyl, 2-hydroxy-6-
oxochlorophenyl-hexa-2,4-dieonic acid, chlorobenzoic acid, chlorobenzoylpropionic acid,
chlorophenylacetic acid, and 3-chlorophenyl-2-chloropropenic acid (Yagi and Sudo, 1980).
In sewage wastewater, Pseudomonas sp. 7509 degraded PCB-1221 into a yellow compound
tentatively identified as a chlorinated derivative of α-hydroxymuconic acid (Liu, 1981). When
PCB-1221 was statically incubated in the dark at 25 °C with yeast extract and settled domestic
wastewater inoculum for 7 d, significant biodegradation with rapid adaptation was observed
(Tabak et al., 1981).
In activated sludge, 80.6% degraded after a 47-h time period (Pal et al., 1980).
Chemical/Physical. Zhang and Rusling (1993) evaluated the bicontinuous microemulsion of
surfactant/oil/water as a medium for the dechlorination of polychlorinated biphenyls by
electrochemical catalytic reduction. The microemulsion (20 mL) contained didodecyldimethylammonium
bromide, dodecane, and water at 21, 57, and 22 wt %, respectively. The catalyst
used was zinc phthalocyanine (2.5 nM). When PCB-1221 (72 mg), the emulsion and catalyst were
subjected to a current of mA/cm
2 on 11.2 cm
2 lead electrode for 10 h, a dechlorination yield of
99% was achieved. Reaction products included a monochlorobiphenyl (0.9 mg), biphenyl, and
reduced alkylbenzene derivatives.
PCB-1221 will not hydrolyze to any reasonable extent (Kollig, 1993).
At influent concentrations of 1.0, 0.1, 0.01, and 0.001 mg/L, the GAC adsorption capacities were
242, 48, 9.5, and 1.9 mg/g, respectively (Dobbs and Cohen, 1980).
