Environmental Chemistry cares with reactions within the environment. It is about reactions, pathways, thermodynamics and kinetics. Science can contribute in two areas to the present assessment; firstly within the area of toxicology and secondly within the area of chemical exposure. The available concentration (“environmental exposure concentration”) depends on the fate of chemical compounds within the environment and thus their distribution and reaction behaviour within the environment. One very important contribution of Environmental Chemistry to all the chemical reactions that take place in the environment-and that are directly related to the natural cycling and transformation of the elements on Earth-are identified as Environmental Chemistry. Likewise, the transformations or chemical interactions and processes of (a) substances introduced by human activity into the environment, (b) natural compounds, (c) living organisms are included in this concept. In the natural cycles of elements and molecules, the biochemical and chemical transformations are recycling the basic compounds for millennia, maintaining a balance and a cycling rate that allows natural ecosystems and organisms to coexist. Originally, the concept of Environmental Chemistry is focused on:
- Reactions related to the "biogeochemical cycles"
- Reactions that may affect the growth of plants and the sustainment of organisms
- Reactions and processes that involve geochemical formations and transformations
