title: Halogenated organic compounds in archived whale oil: a pre-industrial record.
abstract: To provide additional evidence that several halogenated organic compounds (HOCs) found in environmental samples are natural and not industrially produced, we analyzed an archived whale oil sample collected in 1921 from the last voyage of the whaling ship Charles W. Morgan. This sample, which pre-dates large-scale industrial manufacture of HOCs, contained two methoxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (MeO-PBDEs), five halogenated methyl bipyrroles (MBPs), one halogenated dimethyl bipyrrole (DMBP), and tentatively one dimethoxylated polybrominated biphenyl (diMeO-PBB). This result indicates, at least in part, a natural source of the latter compounds.
authors.affiliation: Department of Marine Chemistry and Geochemistry, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 360 Woods Hole Road, Woods Hole, MA 02543, USA. emma.teuten@plymouth.ac.uk
authors.forename: Emma L
authors.initials: EL
authors.lastname: Teuten
authors.forename: Christopher M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D007219:Industrial Oils / Q000032:analysis; D007221:Industry; D008745:Methylation; D009821:Oils / Q000737:chemistry*; D010647:Phenyl Ethers / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D011758:Pyrroles / Q000032:analysis / Q000737:chemistry; D014907:Whales / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D006846:Hydrocarbons, Halogenated; D009821:Oils; D010647:Phenyl Ethers; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; D011758:Pyrroles