BIOC 2580 Study Guide - Polychlorinated Biphenyl, Olive Oil, List Of Gasoline Additives
21 Oct 2014
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These compounds lack any functional groups capable of forming hydrogen bonds or other favourable interactions with water, so they are highly hydrophobic. As a result, they partition very effectively into the body"s depot fat tissues and are excreted (e. g. , in the urine) very slowly. (they are also poorly metabolized. ) Pcbs and other compounds showing this behaviour are said to bioaccumulate. This tendency to accumulate in fat tissues is an important contributor to the toxicity of pcbs and other environmentally-significant compounds, such as the insecticide ddt, tcdd ( dioxin ; Cl: in 1774, mr. benjamin franklin (a scientist, diplomat, and politician, visiting england from the. American colonies) poured a teaspoon (i. e. , about 5 ml) of olive oil onto the surface of a calm pond in london. He observed that the oil spread out over the pond, finally covering an area of about half an acre (2,000 m2).
