Photodegradation of Insecticide Chlorpyrifos in Aqueous Solution under Simulated Solar Light Irradiation Conditions using Babolrood River Water

Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate insecticide, used to control foliage and soil-borne insect pests on a variety of food and feed crops. In the natural environment, Chlorpyrifos can be degraded  through  several  possible  processes,  including  photodegradation, biodegradation,  and hydrolysis.  In  the  present  work  the  photodegradation  and  environmental  fate  of  Chlorpyrifos  in aqueous  phase  under  simulated  natural  conditions  in  the  presence  of  artificial  UV-light  was investigated.  The  gas chromatography-mass spectrometry  (GC-MS) identification of Chlorpyrifos photodegradation products suggested the formation of only one major product, i.e., Chlorpyrifosoxon. Based on the structurally identified photoproduct a plausible degradation pathway is proposed for the photolysis of Chlorpyrifos in natural water over UV irradiated.