Abstract
Environmental fate in river and sea water was studied for 6 organic phosphate esters; tributyl phosphate (TBP), tris (butoxyethyl) phosphate (TBXP), trioctyl phosphate (TOP), tricresyl phosphate (TCP), triphenyl phosphate (TPP), and tris (dichloropropyl) phosphate (CRP). In the river waters, the degradation rates of TPP and TCP, both having phenyl ester groups were faster than those of other phosphate esters. The rates of the phosphate esters having liner alkyl ester groups such as TBP, TBXP, and TOP, were faster as the length of alkyl chain become shorter. The rate of CRP which has chlorine atoms was much slower. The decay characteristics in the polluted sea water was similar to that in the river water. Moreover, the degradation rates in the clean sea water were much slower.
