Résumé
This paper reports a simple model to describe the formation and reactivity of hydroxyl radicals in the whole column of freshwater lakes. It is based on empirical irradiation data and is a function of the water chemical composition (the photochemically significant parameters NPOC, nitrate, nitrite, carbonate and bicarbonate), the lake conformation best expressed as the average depth, and the water absorption spectrum in a simplified Lambert-Beer approach. The purpose is to derive the lifetime of dissolved molecules, due to reaction with (OH)-O-center dot, on the basis of their second-order rate constants with the hydroxyl radical. The model was applied to two compounds of pharmaceutical wastes ibuprofen and carbamazepine, for which the second-order rate constants for reaction with the hydroxyl radical were measured by means of the competition kinetics with 2-propanol. The measured values of the rate constants are 1.0x10(10) and 1.6x10(10) M-1 s(-1) for ibuprofen and carbamazepine, respectively. The model suggests that the lifetime of a given compound can be very variable in different lakes, even more than the lifetime of different compounds in the same lake. It can be concluded that as far as the reaction with (OH)-O-center dot is concerned the concepts of photolability and photostability, traditionally attached to definite compounds, are ecosystem-dependent at least as much as they depend on the molecule under consideration