engleski

Pine needles as biomonitoring indicator of organochlorine compound pollution in Croatia

Pine needles are covered with waxes which make it possible to use them as biomonitoring indicator for air pollution by lipophilic substances. The following polychlorinated biphenyl congeners PCB-28, PCB-52, PCB-101, PCB-138, PCB-153 and PCB-180, and organochlorine pesticides hexachlorobenzene (HCB), alpha-, beta- and gamma-hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH), DDT and its metabolites DDE and DDD were measured in pine needle samples. The method consisted of dichloromethane extraction, precipitation of waxes from cooled extracts, saponification under alkaline conditions and adsorption chromatography on multilayer silica column (containing silica gel impregnated with sulphuric acid and silica gel with sodium hydroxide). Qualitative and quantitative analysis was done by HRGC/ECD on two different capillary columns. Depending on the compound, recoveries were between 29-54% and determination limits between 0.03-0.10 ng/g dry sample. Compounds were analysed in pine needle samples collected at ten different sites in Croatia. All compounds were present in all analysed samples (range: 0.15-8.31 ng/g dry sample). Levels of compounds were lower in one year old needles than in two years old needles. The highest mass fractions were found for gamma-HCH and PCB-52. Mass fraction ratio alpha-HCH/gamma-HCH < 1 showed recent input of gamma-HCH in the environment. The highest levels of organochlorine compounds were found in samples collected in two towns from agricultural areas.

Organochlorine pesticides; PCB congeners; pine needles

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