Chlorophyll catalyse the photo-transformation of carcinogenic benzo[a]pyrene in water

Lijuan Luo, Xueying Lai, Baowei Chen, Li Lin, Ling Fang, Nora F.Y. Tam, Tiangang Luan

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

57 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Algal blooms cause great damage to water quality and aquaculture. However, this study showed that dead algal cells and chlorophyll could accelerate the photo-transformation of benzo[a]pyrene (BaP), a ubiquitous and persistent pollutant with potently mutagenic and carcinogenic toxicities, under visible light irradiation. Chlorophyll was found to be the major active substance in dead algal cells, and generated a high level of singlet oxygen to catalyse the photo-transformation of BaP. According to various BaP metabolites formed, the degradation mechanism was proposed as that chlorophyll in dead algal cells photo-oxidized BaP to quinones via photocatalytic generation of singlet oxygen. The results provided a good insight into the role of chlorophyll in the photo-transformation of organic contaminants and could be a possible remediation strategy of organic pollutants in natural environment.

Original languageEnglish
Article number12776
JournalScientific Reports
Volume5
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Aug 2015
Externally publishedYes

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