The Research Progress on A New Type Harmful Matter-Environmental Persistent Free Radicals(EPFRs)

Compared with traditional short-life free radicals,Environmental Persistent Free Radicals(EPFRs) emerge in the reaction processes between transition metal elements and organic matters,which have paramagnetic stability and high reactivity.The EPFRs have half-lives of minutes to several hours,which induce more oxidative stress in organisms.In this paper,the formation mechanism of EPFRs,its existent and harm were summarized.Main test methods such as Electron Paramagnetic Resonance(EPR) were introduced and the future research directions on EPFRs also were suggested.Researches indicated that EPFRs not only exist widely in the environment,for instance,in the atmosphere,soil sediment suspension particles and natural organic matters,etc.,but also have powerful environmental persistence and toxicity,and that EPFRs are prone to trigger pulmonary and cardiovascular diseases.The importance of studying the EPFRs generated by soils and nano-materials in the processes of photocatalytic reactions was also specially emphasized.The research on this new type organic pollutant,EPFRs,will help to better understand of their environmental risks