Toxicological Characterization of the Thermal Decomposition Products of Chemicals: a New Approach to an old Problem

摘要

Different calorimetric techniques coupled with chemical analyses and ecotoxicologicalrnbioassay led to the proposal of suitable protocol for the definition of a KPI (Key ProcessrnIndex) useful to rank a compound in respect to the toxicological profile of its thermalrndecomposition products. Fenitrothion was used as example and showed to decomposernthrough a series of two main processes, the first being less severe than the second. It isrndemonstrated that similar ecotoxicological results can be gathered both using adiabaticrnand Isothermal conditions. This allows to exclude a priori the necessity of carrying outrnthe more difficult and time and money consuming adiabatic experiments. The analyticalrncharacterization of the samples collected during a series of isoperibolic (quasiisothermal)rnexperiments allowed to calculate, using the software ECOSAR, therntoxicological profile of the intermediate compounds.