Levels and sources of planar and non-planar PCBs in pine needles across Poland.

Under a small project, one-year-old Scots Pine needles collected from 25 spatially distant sites were examined in monitoring the extent of environmental diffusion and possible sources of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in ambient air, their depositions and uptake by plants in Poland. The congener-specific determination of planar and non-planar chlorobiphenyls was achieved by isotope dilution HRGC-HRMS method after a highly refined extraction on multi-layer column of silica gel and alumina layer and clean-up, and fractionations, followed by Hypercarb-HPLC and PYE-HPLC sub-fractionation steps. Contents of 117 chlorobiphenyls determined in pine needles varied for the 25 sites studied and is between 2.

Airborne chloronaphthalenes in Scots pine needles of Poland.

The amounts, profiles and origin of CNs (from triCNs to octaCN) sequestered in Scots pine needles collected from 25 spatially distant sites in Poland have been studied based on congener-specific data obtained after a several clean-up and fractionation steps and final HRGC/HRMS separation and determination. The absolute concentrations of CNs varied largely from site to site, i.e.

Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and -furans (PCDFs) in pine needles of Poland.

There is scarcity of data on sources, environmental diffusion and concentrations of PCDD/Fs and dioxin-like compounds in the Eastern and Central Europe. A study has been conducted using pine needles as passive matrix on diffusion of airborne 17 highly toxic PCDD/Fs in Poland. The target compounds were quantified using isotope dilution and HRGC/HRMS.

Polychlorinated biphenyls and -naphthalenes in pine needles and soil from Poland--concentrations and patterns in view of long-term environmental monitoring.

Pine needles were selected as cost effective and easy collectable matrices suitable for long-term monitoring of the lower troposphere pollution with polychlorinated biphenyls and polychlorinated naphthalenes. The fingerprints of PCNs and PCBs in the top layers of agricultural soils were used for determination of point sources of pollution for terrestrial ecosystems. The new idea based on the use of nona- and decachlorinated isomers fingerprint as an additional tool suitable for the identification of potential point sources of pollution with PCBs, seemed to be a capable tool to identify contamination of soil and ambient air related to former manufacturing and the use of highly chlorinated technical PCB preparations.

Source determination of highly chlorinated biphenyl isomers in pine needles - comparison to several PCB preparations.

The isomer specific composition of 13 technical PCB formulations of different origin and of pine needles was analyzed using GC/MS and HRGC/HRMS. Nonachlorinated biphenyls were identified in 11 among 13 formulations analyzed, with the highest abundance found for highly chlorinated ones (Aroclors 1268 and 1260, Chlorofen, Sovol, Kanechlors 600 and 500, Delor 106, Clophen A60). Decachlorobiphenyl was identified only in Aroclor 1268, Clophen A60, Aroclor 1260 and Chlorofen, comprising, respectively, 8.

Dioxin-like compounds in pine needles around Tokyo Bay, Japan in 1999.

Pine needle samples collected at ten spatially distant sites around Tokyo Bay in 1999 indicated a widespread lower troposphere pollution with ultra-trace dioxin-like compounds such as chlorodibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs), -furans (PCDFs), non-ortho- and mono-ortho-chlorobiphenyls (pPCBs), and -naphthalenes (PCNs). Elevated concentration of planar PCBs and the total PCNs were found at the sites which are located innermost to the Bay, suggesting the regional importance of the evaporative nature of the source of pollution by those compounds over this vast area. The concentrations and profiles for PCDDs and PCDFs remained largely uniform.