Storage and analysis of samples of water, fish, and mud from environments contaminated with abate

Methods for extraction, cleanup, and analysis of samples of water, mud, and fish containing trace quantities of Abate have been developed. Water was extracted by high-speed stirring of 10 ml of hexane in a 300-ml sample. The extracts were evaporated and analyzed by gas chromatography with a limit of detection of 0.00003 ppm. Dried mud samples were extracted by shaking with acetone. An aliquot of the acetone extract was diluted with water and the Abate extracted into 10 ml of hexane by high-speed stirring. The extracts were analyzed by gas chromatography. Fish were extracted with methylene chloride, cleaned up on a silica gel column, and analyzed by gas chromatography. The limit of sensitivity of the methods for mud and fish was found to be 0.001 ppm. Fish samples were stored for 3 weeks in 10% formalin containing 5% sodium thiosulfate without significant loss of Abate residues. A biological magnification of greater than 100 was observed in fish exposed to Abate for 16 hr at concentrations of 0.02 and 0.002 ppm.