Abstract
Photoreactions of the herbicide bromoxynil (3,5‐dibromo‐4‐hydroxybenzonitrile) (1) were extensively studied in water containing various concentrations of sodium nitrite with radiation of wavelengths around 313 nm. In the absence of NaNO2, the quantum yields for the photodecomposition of the herbicide I amounted to 0.054±0.005, while such data was in the range of 0.047 ±0.005 to 0.023 ±0.003 in the presence of 0.5 to 25.0 × 10‐3 m of the inorganic salt. These quantum yield data for the phototransformation of 1 without and with the presence of sodium nitrite followed the Stern‐Volmer equation. The rates of the photolytic destruction of bromoxynil (1) in water were slower in the presence than in the absence of NaNO2. For example, the irradiation of the 7.8 x 10‐6M aqueous solution of 1 in the presence of 10 mM sodium nitrite gave rise to the production of three main photoproducts, viz., 3‐bromo‐4‐hydroxy‐5‐nitrobenzonitrile (2), 4‐hydroxy‐3‐nitrobenzonitrile (3), and an “unidentified photoproduct”; 4. In the case of this photoreaction of compound 1, the percentages of maximum concentration of the photoproducts 2, 3, and 4 were achieved after 14, 44.5, and 60‐min photolyses of 1, respectively; the starting material 1 completely disappeared after 60‐min photolysis. The photoproducts 2 and 3 were identified through the interpretation of the GC‐MS data. Both thhe mass and FT‐IR spectra of the product 4 indicated the possible presence of a COOH group in 4.