ABSTRACT
3-Methylpyridine may be released to the environment via effluents at sites where it is produced or used as a chemical intermediate in medicine, agriculture and other industries. It is also released to the environment with the manufacture and use of coal-derived liquid fuels and during the disposal of coal liquefication and gasification waste by-products. Methylpyridines are produced from the pyrolysis of coal or synthetically by reactions between aldehydes and ketones with ammonia. Consequently, 3-methylpyridine may be released to the environment via effluents at sites where it is produced or used as an intermediate in medicine, agriculture and industry. Based on the vapor pressure, 3-methylpyridine is expected to exist almost entirely in the vapor phase in ambient air. In the atmosphere, vapor phase reactions with photochemically produced hydroxyl radicals may be important. Due to dissociation, 3-methylpyridine and its conjugate acid will exist among environmental media in varying proportions that are pH dependent.
