DETERMINATION OF SELECTED ANTHROPOGENIC ORGANIC COMPOUNDS IN SOUTHERN BALTIC

Abstract

An investigation was directed at the determination of organic compounds in six sampling sites situated – from one side – on the open sea, where most of recreation cites are set and – on the other side – in the area of the Gdańsk Bay, where the industry is located. For the determination of volatile organohalogen compounds direct aqueous injection (DAI) into capillary column and electron capture detector (ECD) were used. For the determination of volatile hydrocarbons purge and trap technique, sorption on solid sorbent (Tenax TA) followed by thermal desorption and GC-MS final determination were applied. Pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyl's (PCBs) were determined after sorption on solid sorbent (C-18), solvent extraction (dichloromethane) and GC-ECD, GC-NPD and GC-MS analysis. Phenols were determined after sorption on solid sorbent (SDB.1. cartridges), solvent extraction (acetonitrile) and HPLC technique. Most of the compounds monitored were found to be present in selected sampling sites. This can indicate the contamination of the Gdańsk Bay with organic compounds originating from quite different sources. The problems which can be caused in the near future by the presence of organic pollutants should be a subject of special attention since a lot of organic substances tend to bioaccumulation and, even worse, due to persistence in the environment and lipophilic character also biomagnify in the food chain. The proposed new methods have been used successfully for the determination of organic compounds in water from rivers and sea.