Exploring the photodegradation of pyrroles

Jennifer Apell has recently published a paper in Environmental Science & Technology exploring the photodegradation of the pesticide fludioxonil and compounds that contain pyrrole in general. Pyrrole moieties were able to undergo direct photodegradation as well as indirect photodegradation with singlet oxygen (1O2) and triplet state organic matter (3CDOM*). The occurrence of these photodegradation pathways and the rate at which they occurred depended heavily on the substituents of the pyrrole ring, which suggests pyrrole molecules could be designed to be non-persistent in aquatic environments.