4-叔辛基苯酚是非离子表面活性剂烷基酚聚乙氧基化物的降解产物以及许多工业应用的原料。它是一种多媒体化合物,已在室内空气和地表水等所有环境隔室中检测到。污染物是可生物降解的,但是某些降解产物比母体化合物毒性更大。提出了从环境水域中去除较新的技术,但是它们仍然需要大规模应用的开发。通过植物酶如过氧化物酶处理废水有望完全去除4-叔辛基苯酚,留下毒性较小的降解产物。这种污染物的内分泌干扰已经得到了很好的报道,但在雌激素中的作用比在任何其他信号通路中的作用更多,据信它对人类和野生动物产生毒性。在本文中,我们对这种污染物在环境水域中的活动进行了综述,内分泌干扰及其毒性的相关性,并得出结论,对其内分泌活性的了解不足阻碍了对其毒性的理解,这可能会阻碍目前从环境中消除该化合物的努力。
4-tert-Octylphenol is a degradation product of non-ionic surfactants alkylphenol polyethoxylates as well as raw material for a number of industrial applications. It is a multimedia compound having been detected in all environmental compartments such as indoor air and surface waters. The pollutant is biodegradable, but certain degradation products are more toxic than the parent compound. Newer removal techniques from environmental waters have been presented, but they still require development for large-scale applications. Wastewater treatment by plant enzymes such as peroxidases offers promise in total removal of 4-tert-octylphenol leaving less toxic degradation products. The pollutant\'s endocrine interference has been well reported but more in oestrogens than in any other signalling pathways through which it is believed to exert toxicity on human and wildlife. In this paper we carried out a
review of the activities of this pollutant in environmental waters, endocrine interference and relevance to its toxicities and concluded that inadequate knowledge of its endocrine activities impedes understanding of its toxicity which may frustrate current efforts at ridding the compound from the environment.