This course fundamentally covers the following units:
• A. Man-made Materials in the Environment: (i) Man-made environmental pollution including concepts of chemical toxicity, bio-magnification and persistence, (ii) Organic pollutants (e.g: Organophosphorus and carbamate insecticides, organochlorine insecticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, dioxins, herbicides, detergents …)
• B. Fate of Organic Molecules in the Environment: (i) Description of the degradation of organic molecules in the environment, (ii) Chemical stability of organic molecules and the chemistry of their breakdown.
• C. Modern analytical methods: (i) Sampling process, (ii) Short description of modern trace analysis methods (GC-MS/MS/HPLC), employed to investigate the persistence and breakdown of organic pollutants in the environment.
• D. Laboratory activities and Field visit: (i) Laboratory analysis of organic pollutants, (ii) Places where organic pollutants can be found (Field visits to different industries and laboratories)