Amazing Organohalogens

By Gordon Gribble

Although best known as synthetic toxicants, thousands of halogen compounds are, in fact, part of our natural environment

Chemistry Environment

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July-August 2004

Volume 92, Number 4
Page 342

DOI: 10.1511/2004.48.342

The synthetic, chlorine-containing chemicals DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane), dioxin, PCB (polychlorinated biphenyl) and CFC (chlorofluorocarbon) are persistent pollutants in our environment. Less well known—even to many scientists—is that nature produces an abundance of similar, and in some cases identical, halogenated compounds, some of which predate the beginning of life on Earth.

Andrey Nechayev

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