Abstract
The herbicide, pentachiorophenol decomposes within a few weeks after its application in rice fields. A reductive dechloronation was revealed as one of its decomposition pathways, in which some microorganisms play a dominant role and other soil chemical factors in a reduced condition are relatively of little importance. The stable decomposition products found in the paddy soil were 2, 3, 4, 5-, 2, 3, 5, 6- and 2, 3, 4, 6-tetrachlorophenol, 2, 4, 5- and 2, 3, 5-trichlorophenol, 3, 4- and 3, 5-dichlorophenol, and 3-chlorophenol.
