ABSTRACT
In the last 30 years, environmental issues have received more attention, and many studies of environmental effects have been reported. In this chapter the environmental literature on the fate of riot control agents (RCAs) in the environment is reviewed. The degradation pathways often lead to intermediate compounds which are of toxicological and environmental interest. Thus, the literature on some important intermediate compounds is reviewed as well. Microbial degradation processes appear to play a significant role for each of the RCAs that are considered. This review considers ecotoxicological risk and environmental degradation of o-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile (CS), 2-chloroacetophenone (CN), dibenz[b,f]1:4-oxazepine (CR), and oleoresin capsicum (OC). All of the compounds are biodegraded when environmental conditions are appropriate. When these compounds are present as solid particles in dry soil, they are fairly stable because of their low solubility in water and their low vapor pressure.
