Abstract
This study showed that an oxidative degradation method originally developed to study lignin structures can be used to investigate the presence of halogenated structures in high-molecular-weight organic matter from marine sediments. When the sediment sample itself, or the organic matter isolated from the sediment, was properly desalted prior to the degradation, remaining halides did not cause any halogenation reactions that interfered with the analysis of halogenated phenolic structures. Gas chromatography — atomic emission detection (GC-AED) and gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of degraded and methylated organic matter from Baltic Sea sediments showed that chlorinated, brominated, and iodinated analogues of 4-ethoxybenzoic acid methyl ester were present in all analysed samples. The chlorinated species have previously been identified upon degradation of humic substances from unpolluted freshwaters. The identification of brominated and iodinated structural elements represents the first indication of a large-scale bromination and iodination of high-molecular-weight organic matter in marine environments.
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