Correlation study of toxicity of substituted phenols to river bacteria and their biodegradability in river water.

OBJECTIVE To study the correlation of toxicity with biodegradability (BODT) in order to promote QSBR development and understand the degradation mechanism. METHODS Toxicity of substituted phenols to river bacteria was determined by the turbidities that were measured using a spectrophotometer (UV-190) at 530 nm against a blank control. The biodegradability of substituted phenols was expressed as BODT and the DO concentrations were determined by the iodometric titration method. RESULTS The BODT and toxicity(log 1/IC50) of 12 substituted phenols to bacteria from the Songhua River were determined respectively. The correlation of biodegradability with toxicity was developed: BODT=8.21 (+/-2.22) pKa -32.44 (+/-8.28) log 1/IC50 +89.04 (+/-38.20), n=12, R2=0.791, R2(adj)=0.745, SE=9.134, F=17.066, P=0.001. CONCLUSION The BODT of substituted phenols was influenced by their toxicity and the ionization constant pKa. The stronger the toxicity, the less readily the compound was degraded by river bacteria.