Preliminary study of the photodegradation of bisphenol a (BPA) in artificial snow samples

Bisphenols (BPs) are organic synthetic compounds formed by two phenolic hydroxyl groups, the most commonly used being bisphenol A (BPA). Traces of BPA have been found in the human body, and this has raised considerable concern since this compound is an interferent of the endocrine system2. It is therefore critical to trace this compound within various matrices and to understand its fate in various environmental compartments because it has been found in surface water, marine water, and aerosols1. Since it has been found in the atmosphere, it is plausible that it is transported to remote areas and deposited on the snow surface e, once deposited, photodegradation reactions can occur (direct or indirect). In this work, the indirect photodegradation of BPA in the presence of rose bengal in synthetic ice samples was studied. This species is usually used to simulate the dissolved organic chromophoric fraction (CDOM), which is able to become excited by visible light and produce singlet oxygen (1O2), a strongly oxidizing molecule3. Preliminary results showed that BPA is oxidized by 1O2, and various by-products, such as the hydroxylated species (BPA-OH), were identified through analysis using hyphenated techniques with high resolution mass spectrometer (HPLC-Orbitrap).The main aims of these investigation are 1) to understand the degradation kinetic and the main parameters that promote it, 2) to identify the main by-products in order to define their fate and Once the masses of some by-products have been identified, they will be searched in snow samples so as to assess whether this photodegradation process also occurs in the real environment.