In
this study, the reaction kinetics and degradation mechanism
of bisphenol AF (BPAF) with hypochlorous acid (HOCl) were investigated
for the first time. Our results showed that BPAF could be effectively
degraded by chlorine over a wide pH range from 5.3 to 11.7, with apparent
second-order rate constants (k
app) of
1.0–175.5 M–1 s–1 at temperature
25 ± 1.8 °C. By kinetic modeling, k
app of un-ionized and ionized BPAF (i.e., BPAF, BPAF–, and BPAF2–) were calculated to be 2.9 ±
1.1, (9.0 ± 0.4) × 103, and (1.4 ± 0.2)
× 104 M–1 s–1,
respectively. Five chlorinated BPAF (Cl-BPAF) were identified by a
gas chromatography–mass spectrometry method, and confirmed
by authentic materials synthesized in laboratory. By comparing the
concentration evolution of BPAF and Cl-BPAF under each designated
pH level, we found that (1) higher pH favored the electrophilic substitution
mechanism and lower pH favored the electron transfer mechanism. (2)
the electron transfer mechanism of BPAF with free chlorine may be
attributed to the redox reaction of HOCl. (3) Aqueous pH dominated
the formation ratio of Cl2–BPAF isomers due to the
pH-dependence of the dissociation forms of precursor 3-Cl1BPAF. Considering the structural similarity of bisphenol analogues,
similar relationship between pH and degradation kinetics or mechanism
could be applied for other bisphenol analogues during chlorination.