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Please be aware that this old REACH registration data factsheet is no longer maintained; it remains frozen as of 19th May 2023.

The new ECHA CHEM database has been released by ECHA, and it now contains all REACH registration data. There are more details on the transition of ECHA's published data to ECHA CHEM here.

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Environmental fate & pathways

Phototransformation in water

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Administrative data

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Description of key information

In water, 2-mercaptoethanol will be degraded by indirect photodegradation with OH radicals within 4.7 to 393 days, depending on the concentration of the OH radicals.

Key value for chemical safety assessment

Additional information

The rate constant for the reaction between hydroxyl radicals and

2-mercaptoethanol in aqueous solution at pH 6.5 has been experimentally

determined to be 6.8*10E+9 l/Mol*sec. Assuming that the hydroxyl radical

concentration (according to Zepp et al., 1987) for the small lake Greifensee

in Switzerland reaches 2.5E-16 mol/l in the summer time at noon near the

surface and 3.0E-18 mol/l for the whole water column (14 m) over the whole year

the half-life for this reaction would be 4.7 - 393 days, respectively