Issue 10, 2016

A passive dosing method to determine fugacity capacities and partitioning properties of leaves

Abstract

The capacity of leaves to take up chemicals from the atmosphere and water influences how contaminants are transferred into food webs and soil. We provide a proof of concept of a passive dosing method to measure leaf/polydimethylsiloxane partition ratios (Kleaf/PDMS) for intact leaves, using polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) as model chemicals. Rhododendron leaves held in contact with PCB-loaded PDMS reached between 76 and 99% of equilibrium within 4 days for PCBs 3, 4, 28, 52, 101, 118, 138 and 180. Equilibrium Kleaf/PDMS extrapolated from the uptake kinetics measured over 4 days ranged from 0.075 (PCB 180) to 0.371 (PCB 3). The Kleaf/PDMS data can readily be converted to fugacity capacities of leaves (Zleaf) and subsequently leaf/water or leaf/air partition ratios (Kleaf/water and Kleaf/air) using partitioning data from the literature. Results of our measurements are within the variability observed for plant/air partition ratios (Kplant/air) found in the literature. Log Kleaf/air from this study ranged from 5.00 (PCB 3) to 8.30 (PCB 180) compared to log Kplant/air of 3.31 (PCB 3) to 8.88 (PCB 180) found in the literature. The method we describe could provide data to characterize the variability in sorptive capacities of leaves that would improve descriptions of uptake of chemicals by leaves in multimedia fate models.

Graphical abstract: A passive dosing method to determine fugacity capacities and partitioning properties of leaves

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 jul 2016
Accepted
13 sep 2016
First published
15 sep 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2016,18, 1325-1332

A passive dosing method to determine fugacity capacities and partitioning properties of leaves

D. J. Bolinius, M. MacLeod, M. S. McLachlan, P. Mayer and A. Jahnke, Environ. Sci.: Processes Impacts, 2016, 18, 1325 DOI: 10.1039/C6EM00423G

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