Pentachloroanisole

EYES: First check the victim for contact lenses and remove if present. Flush victim's eyes with water or normal saline solution for 20 to 30 minutes while simultaneously calling a hospital or poison control center. Do not put any ointments, oils, or medication in the victim's eyes without specific instructions from a physician. IMMEDIATELY transport the victim after flushing eyes to a hospital even if no symptoms (such as redness or irritation) develop.

SMALL SPILLS AND LEAKAGE: Should a spill occur while you are handling this chemical, FIRST REMOVE ALL SOURCES OF IGNITION, then you should dampen the solid spill material with 60-70% ethanol and transfer the dampened material to a suitable container. Use absorbent paper dampened with 60-70% ethanol to pick up any remaining material. Seal the absorbent paper, and any of your clothes, which may be contaminated, in a vapor-tight plastic bag for eventual disposal. Solvent wash all contaminated surfaces with 60-70% ethanol followed by washing with a soap and water solution. Do not reenter the contaminated area until the Safety Officer (or other responsible person) has verified that the area has been properly cleaned.

SRP: At the time of review, criteria for land treatment or burial (sanitary landfill) disposal practices are subject to significant revision. Prior to implementing land disposal of waste residue (including waste sludge), consult with environmental regulatory agencies for guidance on acceptable disposal practices.

RECOMMENDED RESPIRATOR: Where the neat test chemical is weighed and diluted, wear a NIOSH-approved half face respirator equipped with an organic vapor/acid gas cartridge (specific for organic vapors, HCl, acid gas and SO2) with a dust/mist filter. (NTP, 1992)

DEGRADATION OF PENTACHLOROPHENOL IN SOIL CORRELATED WITH CLAY MINERAL COMPOSITION, FREE IRON CONTENT, PHOSPHATE ABSORPTION COEFFICIENT & CATION EXCHANGE CAPACITY, HIGHLY CORRELATED WITH SOIL ORG MATTER. PENTACHLOROANISOLE WAS DEGRADATION PRODUCT.

STUDY OF DEGRADATION OF PENTACHLOROPHENOL (PCP) UNDER AEROBIC & ANAEROBIC CONDITIONS. PENTACHLOROANISOLE PRESENT IN BOTH AEROBIC & ANAEROBIC SOILS.

VERTICAL SOIL DISTRIBUTION OF PENTACHLORONITROBENZENE & METABOLITES SHOWED PEAK IN PARTS FROM 0-5 CM IN PLOWED SOIL & FROM 0-20 CM AFTER CULTIVATION. RESIDUAL AMT IN POTATO TUBERS GREATER IN SANDY SOIL THAN IN SOIL WITH MORE HUMUS & CLAY.

(14)C-LABELED PENTACHLORONITROBENZENE WAS APPLIED TO SOIL (36.1 KG/HA) UNDER OUTDOOR CONDITIONS & ONION BULBS WERE PLANTED. AT HARVEST, PENTACHLOROANISOLE OBTAINED FROM ROOT-PEEL EXTRACT.

For more Environmental Fate (Complete) data for PENTACHLOROANISOLE (9 total), please visit the HSDB record page.

Pentachloroanisole was one of the 40 most frequently found organic chemical residue in FDA's Total Diet Study of 1982-1984 and 1984-1985 with 33 and 30 positives among the 1872 individual food samples analyzed (2% incidence)(1). Results from FDA's Adult Total Diet Study in which the typical 14-day diet of a 16-19 yr male was collected throughout the US from market basket composite samples of 12 food groups (fiscal year, average intake (ug/kg body wt-day) are: FY78, 0.001; FY79, 0.001; FY80, 0.002; FY81/82, 0.001(2). Analogous study for infants and toddlers calculated that the intake of pentachloroanisole in ug/kg body wt-day was (fiscal year, average intake - infants, average intake - toddlers): FY78, 0.004, 0.007; FY79, 0.003,0.003; FY80, 0.003, 0.002; FY81/82, 0.002, 0.003(4) The food groups containing pentachloroanisole in the 1980-1982 survey are (class, concn range, average concn, number of positives): potatoes, trace, <0.0001 ppm, 1; oils and fats, trace-0.004 ppm, 0.0014 ppm, 22; sugar and adjuncts, trace - 0.001 ppm, 0.0001, 2(2). Oils and fats were the only food classes relevant to infants and toddlers that contained pentachloroanisole(4). The food groups containing pentachloroanisole in the 1979-1980 survey was (class, concn range, average concn, number of positives): meat, fish and poultry, trace, <0.0001 ppm, 1; fruits, 0.001 ppm, 0.001 ppm, 1; oils and fats, trace-0.009 ppm, 0.0012 ppm, 13; sugar and adjuncts, trace, <0.0001 ppm, 2(3). Pentachloroanisole was detected, but not quantified in commercial fish liver oil from Finland(5).

AIR INTAKE (assume mean concn 28 picograms/cu m(1)): 0.56 ng; FOOD INTAKE (assume concn of 0.001 ug/kg(2), 70 kg for adults; 0.002 ug/kg(3), 9.2 kg for infants; and 0.003 ug/kg(3), 13.4 kg for toddlers) 0.07 ug (adults); 0.018 ug (infants); 0.040 ug (toddlers).(SRC)

Pentachloroanisole has been detected in pine needles(1). In fact pine needles have been used as a monitoring tool to establish that pentachloroanisole is a widespread air pollutant(1,2). Levels of pentachloroanisole in Swedish pine needles were twice those found in the rest of Europe, reflecting the past use of pentachlorophenol in Sweden(1).

The concn of pentachloroanisole in two species of earthworms at an uncleaned sawmill in Finland that had been closed for over 28 yr was 2.6 and 7.5 ug/g fat, while that in a third species at two cleaned sawmills was 0.37 and 1.27 ug/g fat(1,2).

The following link will take the user to the National Toxicology Program (NTP) Test Agent Search Results page, which tabulates all of the "Standard Toxicology & Carcinogenesis Studies", "Developmental Studies", and "Genetic Toxicity Studies" performed with this chemical. Clicking on the "Testing Status" link will take the user to the status (i.e., in review, in progress, in preparation, on test, completed, etc.) and results of all the studies that the NTP has done on this chemical. [http://ntp-apps.niehs.nih.gov/ntp_tox/index.cfm?fuseaction=ntpsearch.searchresults&searchterm=1825-21-4]

Pentachloroanisole was detected, not quantified, in secondary wastewater in Phoenix, AZ(1). Wastewater into the Lower Fox River, WI from 15 pulp and/or paper mills and 12 sewage treatment plants contained 0.05-0.38 ug/L of pentachloroanisole(2).

PENTACHLOROANISOLES IDENTIFIED IN THESE EFFLUENTS.

Using an estimation method based on molecular connectivity indices(1), the Koc for pentachloroanisole is estimated to be 1490(SRC). According to a suggested classification scheme(2), this Koc value suggests that pentachloroanisole will have low mobility in soil(SRC). During biodegradation studies, pentachloroanisole was largely bound to the humin component of soil(3).

RURAL/REMOTE: Pentachloroanisole is one of the more abundant high molecular weight halocarbons in the remote marine troposphere. Levels of pentachloroanisole in American Samoa in the northern hemisphere were 9.0 picograms/cu m (standard deviation 3.9 picograms/cu m), while those in the southern hemisphere, New Zealand was 2.1 picograms/cu m (standard deviation 0.8 picograms/cu m)(1). It was also detected in the lower troposphere over the southern Indian Ocean in the lower pg/cu m range(4). Air samples collected on a cruise on the Atlantic Ocean between 50 deg N and 50 deg S (22 samples): 1.8 - 40 pg/cu m with a median concn of 8.7 pg/cu m(2). The air samples were collected at a height of 20 m above sea level. Egbert, Ontario, Canada (143 samples between July 1988 and Sept 1989): annual mean 28 pg/cu m, max 130 pg/cu m(3).

Salmon collected from the Baltic Sea and the Gulf of Bothnia, Finland in 1985 (avg of 3 composite samples) contained 5.7 and 1.7 ng/g of pentachloroanisole, respectively(3). Pike and Burbot (8 composite samples) from Finland: 0.1-0.7 ng/g(3). Trout exposed for 3 months to 0.5% kraft mill effluent (n=9): 1.3 ng/g(3). Fish from the Lower Fox River, WI, a heavily developed industrial basin with pulp and paper industry contained 0.005-0.06 mg/kg pentachloroanisole(4). Neckar River Germany near Rotteweil below industrial discharge (50 samples): mean 0.005 mg/kg (0.12 mg/kg lipid), maximum 0.02 mg/kg (0.53 mg/kg lipid)(1). Mussels and fish collected from different seashore locations or markets in Japan: 11 of 24 samples positive, range of positives 0.1 to 10.7 ppb wet weight(2). The two highest samples were mussels from Osaka (10.7 ppb) and sardines from Wakayama (3.9 ppb)(2).

Fall run Coho salmon (skin-on filets) obtained from Lake Michigan in 1984 contained <0.05 mg/kg pentachloroanisole(1). Lake Huron and Lake Superior tributaries and embayments (14 sites, 19 samples): 0.95-33 ng/g fat, median 5.3 ng/g fat(2). Sites around Lake Ontario (15 sites, 21 samples): 0-160 ng/g fat, median 29 ng/g fat(3). The fish with the highest levels were from the Buffalo River, Buffalo, NY(3). Of the bottom feeding and game fish, from each of nearly 400 sites through out the US analyzed between 1986 and 1989, 64% contained pentachloroanisole at a mean (standard deviation) and maximum concn of 10.8 (52.1) and 647 ng/g(4). It was detected, but not quantified in fish at three sites on the Mississippi River in 1979(5). Results of the Biomonitoring Program in which 321 composite fish samples from 112 stations throughout the US were analyzed for organochlorine residues were (collection period, geometric mean residue, maximum concn, % of stations with detectable residues): 1980-81, <0.01 ppm, 0.07 ppm, 24.3%; 1984, <0.01 ppm, 0.10 ppm, 30.4%(6). Levels of pentachloroanisole were generally low (<0.02 ppm) except at stations on the Raritan River, NJ, Cape Fear River, NC, Penobscot River, ME, the Ohio River, Cincinnati, OH, the Mississippi River in Louisiana, and the Willamette River in Oregon(7). Since pentachloroanisole is relatively short-lived in fish, the presence of residues indicates recent inputs of the parent material(7).

The mean concns of pentachloroanisole in fat of freshwater mussels (Anodonta piscinalis) that had been incubated in cages in situ for 4 weeks at 11 sites in recipient watercourses of the pulp and paper industry in Finland during 1986-1987 (14 sites/years) ranged from 0 to 274 ng/g with a median concn of 23 ng/g(1). Pentachloroanisole was not found in waste liquid or in the water (detection limit 1 ng/L) and therefore the pentachloroanisole is produced as a metabolic product in the mussel or bioaccumulation is very high(1).

No commercial production of pentachloroanisole is known(3); its probable source is the biotic transformation of the biocide, pentachlorophenol (PCP) which is widely used as a wood preservative and slimicide in the wood products and leather industries(1-3). Pentachloroanisole's release after being formed in soil or water is believed to be the source of pentachloroanisole in the remote marine atmosphere(1).

Experiments performed in order to confirm that chlorinated anisoles could be formed in marine air by the action of widely-occurring haloperoxidase enzymes on anisole in the presence of chloride and hydrogen peroxide, failed to produced more highly chlorinated anisoles than dichloroanisole(1). Pentachloroanisole is a metabolite of PCP biodegradation by the fungi, Trichoderma virgatum(4). It was found on softwood chips treated with PCP(4). It is formed during composting of PCP(8). Pentachloroanisole was formed during the biodegradation of PCP in moist soil(3). However only a small percentage of PCP was converted to pentachloroanisole in the absence of molecular oxygen; after 24 days, 51.5% and 5.3% of applied PCP was converted to pentachloroanisole under aerobic and anaerobic conditions, respectively(2). After one vegetation period, 0.09% of the applied radioactivity resulting from the application of C14-PCP to flooded rice soil in a growth chamber was pentachloroanisole(5). In two years of monitoring aerobic and anaerobic sediment following the release of wastewater containing PCP-contaminated fuel oil into a creek, levels of pentachloroanisole did not exceed 10% of total PCP and pentachloroanisole concns(6). However the anaerobic site contained about twice the amount of pentachloroanisole indicating greater conversion. It is also a biodegradation product of pentachloronitrobenzene(7).

28-30 WK AFTER LAST APPLICATION OF (14)C-LABELED HCB (HEXACHLOROBENZENE) OR PCNB (PENTACHLORONITROBENZENE), PENTACHLOROANISOLE IDENTIFIED AS METABOLITE.

(1977) NOT PRODUCED COMMERCIALLY IN USA

(1979) NOT PRODUCED COMMERCIALLY IN USA