Nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) are widespread environmental contaminants, and the one-electron reduction potential (E oH) is an important parameter used in modeling their environmental fate. We have identified a method that is both accurate and efficient to predict E oH values for NACs, using gas-phase quantum mechanics (QM) calculations combined with empirical correlations. First, the adiabatic electron affinity (EA) at 0 K is calculated using the B98/MG3S method, and the predictions are scaled by a factor of 0.802 to account for systematic errors in the density functional calculations. Second, the E oH values are predicted from a linear correlation between E oH and EA. Using this method, E oH values were predicted with a mean absolute deviation from measured values of 0.021 V for the 14 NACs used to obtain the correlation and 0.029 V for six additional NACs. This represents a substantial improvement in accuracy over predictions by other QM methods, which are affected by large errors in solvation or aqueous-phase calculations for some compounds.

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The Henry's law constants (HLCs) for all 209 polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) congeners were predicted at 25 degrees C using the quantum mechanical (QM) continuum solvation models COSMO-SAC and SM6, and trends were examined. COSMO-SAC HLCs were also predicted for all congeners at 4, 11, 18, and 31 degrees C. The temperature dependences of the HLCs were used to calculate enthalpy of solvation (deltaHs) values. At 25 degrees C, COSMO-SAC and SM6 predicted similar values of the HLC, which are consistent with all but one of the available sets of measurements, and have smaller root-mean-square prediction errors than other models tested. This supports the validity of the QM values, and the recommendation of their use in environmental transport and fate models. Intercongener trends in the HLCs appear to be dominated by the strength of PCB-water polar interactions. The COSMO-SAC predictions between 4 and 31 degrees C indicate that the temperature dependence of the HLC is similar for all congeners. At low temperatures, the HLC predictions for several heavy congeners are substantially higher than recently reported measurements, supporting claims in the literature that these low-temperature data are inaccurate.