fig1

Figure 1. Proposed initial metabolic steps starting from a thought CP congener, 2,4,5,8,10,14-hexachlorotetradecane. The postulated metabolic reactions are: hydrolysis, to form primary (I a) or secondary alcohols (I b); dehydrochlorination, with emission of HCl (II); reductive dechlorination, with loss of Cl (III); vicinal halogen reduction, with loss of Cl2; and oxidative dehalogenation, replacing a carbon chlorine with an aldehyde (V a) or ketone (V b). This simplified figure does not show the subsequent metabolic reactions that will likely take place; however, a more detailed metabolic scheme has been proposed by Darnerud and Bergman^[8].