Reductive Dehalogenation – Challenges of Perfluorinated Organics

Abstract

In this mini-review, the problem of effective elimination of perfluorinated organic micropollutants from aquatic environment has been touched. The extraordinary chemical stability of common perfluorinated organic surfactants results in unsatisfactory efficiency of conventional treatment processes, which opens perspectives for photocatalytic methods - especially for reductive-dehalogenation. To tackle this challenge by photocatalysis one have to be aware of objective, physical limits set by very nature of the reduction process, electronic structure chemical stability, and formulation of the catalyst as well as emission characteristic of the light source. The paper provides some clues for rational design of reductive-dehalogenation oriented photolytic systems, which are derived on the basis of physical principles, and, rather sparse, experimental examples.