Mechanism and pathways of chlorfenapyr photocatalytic degradation in aqueous suspension of TiO2

The light-induced degradation of chlorfenapyr under UV was investigated in aqueous solutions containing TiO2 as photocatalyst. The photocatalytic degradation of chlorfenapyr followed pseudo-first-order degradation kinetics (Ct = C0e(-kt)). The study focused on the identification of possible intermediate products during the degradation, using gas chromatography mass-spectrometry (GC-MS) and 1HNMR. Six aromatic intermediates were identified by several techniques during the treatment and some of them were further confirmed by matching authentic standards. Structure analysis of the degradation products suggested two degradation pathways: (1) The aliphatic ether group was cleaved from chlorfenapyr to form pyrrole-alph-carboxylic acid, then the pyrrole group was broken to form 4-chloroglycine; (2) Chlorfenapyr was debrominated and the aliphatic ether group was cleaved from the pyrrole group, which was further broken to form 4-chlorophenylglycine. The glycine was degraded into 4-chlorobenzoic acids, which was further broken into inorganic ions and CO2.