STRUCTURE-ACTIVITY-RELATIONSHIPS FOR BIODEGRADATION OF LINEAR ALKYLBENZENESULFONATES

The kinetics of mineralization of uniformly 14C-ring-labeled linear alkylbenzenesulfonate (LAS) were studied in river water and sediments for a series of pure chain-length homologues and phenyl isomers containing 10-14 carbon atoms in the alkyl chain. Degradation of LAS in river water and sediments showed little variation among different homologues and isomers. Half-lives for mineralization of the benzene ring varied a maximum of 2-fold (15-33 h) and were not significantly different in either water or sediments. Competition experiments indicated that degradation of long- and short-chain homologues occurred independently and was not significantly affected by high concentrations of a competing homologue. © 1990, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.