De novo formation of chloroethyne in soil

To date, chloroethyne in the environment has been proposed to occur as a reactive intermediate during the reductive dechlorination of tri- and tetrachloroethene with zerovalent metals. Such artificial conditions might possibly be found at organohalide-contaminated sites that are surrounded by remediation barriers made of metallic iron. In this paper, it is shown that the highly reactive chloroethyne is also a product of natural processes in soil. Soil air samples from three differentterrestrial ecosystems of Northern Germany showed significant chloroethyne concentrations, besides other naturally produced monochlorinated compounds, such as chloromethane, chloroethane and chloroethene. Measured amounts range from 5 to 540 pg chloroethyne in air purged from 1 L of soil. A possible route of chloroethyne formation in soil is discussed, where chloroethyne is probably produced as a byproduct of the oxidative halogenation of aromatic compounds in soil. A series of laboratory studies, using the redox-sensitive catechol as a discrete organic model compound, showed the formation of chloroethyne when Fe3+ and hydrogen peroxide were added to the system. We therefore propose that the natural formation of chloroethyne in soil proceeds via oxidative cleavage of a quinonic system in the presence of the ubiquitous soil component chloride.