Photodegradation of bisphenol A and related compounds under natural-like conditions in the presence of riboflavin: kinetics, mechanism and photoproducts.

The aerobic riboflavin (Rf)-sensitized photodegradation of the endocrine disruptor 4,4'-isopropylidenebisphenol (bisphenol A, BPA), and of the related compounds 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(2,6-dibromophenol) and 4,4'-isopropylidenebis(2,6-dimethylphenol) has been studied in water and water-methanol mixtures through visible-light continuous photolysis, polarographic detection of oxygen uptake, stationary and time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, time-resolved near-IR phosphorescence detection and laser flash photolysis techniques. Bisphenols (BPs) quench excited singlet and triplet states of Rf, with rate constants close to the diffusion limit. BPs and dissolved molecular oxygen, employed in similar concentrations, competitively quench triplet excited Rf.