Presence of chlorinated paraffins in sediments from the North and Baltic Seas

Chloroparaffins (CPs) were determined in sediments collected from the North and Baltic Seas during monitoring campaigns in 2001-2003. Electron ionization tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) was used for a first screening. It allowed the simultaneous determination of short (SCCP) and medium chain chlorinated paraffins (MCCP). SCCP+MCCP concentrations between 5 and 499 ng/g dry weight were found. In general, Baltic Sea sediments were more highly contaminated by CPs than the North Sea was. However, concentrations related to the total organic carbon content were on the same order of magnitude due to the higher organic content in the Baltic Sea. Additional information about the congener and homologue pattern was obtained for selected samples from the Baltic Sea by high-resolution gas chromatography combined with negative ion chemical ionization and low-resolution mass spectrometry, Concentrations in the North Sea were in general too low for this approach. In the Baltic Sea, MCCP concentrations were 1.7-2.4 times higher than for SCCPs. Lower chlorinated C(13) and C(14) compounds were the main CP compounds. The CP congener and homologue patterns showed similarities with technical SCCP and MCCP mixtures when compared using principal component analysis.