Understanding the toxicity of trinitrophenol and promising decontamination strategies for its neutralization: Challenges and future perspectives

2,4,6-trinitrophenol (TNP) has various industrial applications and is also extremely used by militaries and terrorists to make various explosives. Owing to their extensive industrial and military use and higher water solubility, their huge quantity is released into the environment and thus become a momentous environmental pollutant. TNP is highly toxic, poorly biodegradable, and a vigorous poison, strongly carcinogenic, and could cause severe diseases in humans and other animals. Thus, TNP present in the industrial wastewater and landfill leachate must be removed due to its detrimental effects on natural ecosystems. In the present review, the nature of TNP and its decontamination approaches are discussed, as well as their detailed mechanisms. The challenges that arise while applying TNP decontamination approaches were discussed and some future directions are highlighted for enhancing the efficiency of these approaches in a sustainable and friendly manner.