The analysis of toxaphene, a highly complex mixture of chlorinated
bornanes, bornenes and camphenes, is a challenging problem, especially as
individual congeners are present at trace levels in biota and other relevant
samples. The complicated nomenclature of the compounds of interest is briefly
discussed. Gas chromatographic techniques are the most important tools in
toxaphene analysis because of their high resolution. The main focus of attention
is devoted to important steps in the GC-based analytical procedure, such
as sample preparation and injection, separation by single-column and multidimensional
GC, both heart-cut and comprehensive, and detection by electron capture
and, increasingly, MS-based detection/identification. The gradual
shift from total toxaphene to individual compound analysis is discussed, and
the growing interest in enantiomer-selective separations is highlighted.
The problems encountered when selecting appropriate indicator compounds for
rapid toxaphene screening are also addressed.
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