Identification of O,O-dialkyl-S-methylphosphorodithioate residues in fish

O,O-Dialkyl-S-methylphosphorodithioates were found in Mississippi River buffalo fish caught near several chemical plants and oil refineries in Hartford and Wood River, IL. These chemicals, which have not been previously recognized as environmental or food contaminants, were identified and quantitated by a procedure similar to the AOAC multiresidue method for organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides, using gas chromatography (GC) with flame photometric detection (FPD). The key to their identification was a GC/FPD retention time pattern that was virtually the same as that for the diazomethane reaction products of a commercial zinc dialkyl dithiophosphate motor oil additive. GC/mass spectrometry (MS) showed that the compound producing the largest GC/FPD peak contained butoxy groups. The identification of this compound as O,O-di(2-methylpropyl)-S-methyl-phosphorodithioate (Compound C) was confirmed by GC/MS analysis by comparison with the authentic material. The buffalo fish contained 0.15 ppm Compound C and 0.5 ppm total O,O-dialkyl-S-methylphosphorodithioates. Subsequent analyses of fish from other areas showed that these contaminants were not limited to the Hartford-Wood River area. Lower residue levels of Compound C, ranging from 0.01 to 0.05 ppm, were found in fish from the Mississippi River at Sauget, IL, and from the Delaware River and Newark Bay in NJ.