FTIR spectroscopic characterization of chlorinated camphenes and bornenes in technical toxaphene

The unsaturated C₁₀-components and their amounts in technical toxaphene have been characterized with the help of column chromatography/FTIR spectroscopy using the typical absorption bands of the >C = C< valence bonds in the region between 1590 and 1655 cm^-1. the sum of unsaturated compounds is approximately 5%. The results of the analysis of 2500 fractions collected show that ca. 70% of the unsaturated compounds are chlorocamphenes, while the rest are chlorobornenes. Most of the chlorocamphenes contain a monochlorinated exo-double bond (2.37% w/w of the whole mixture) and only a minor part contain either an unsubstituted (0.67%) or a dichlorinated axial double bond (0.11%). In the case of chlorobornenes, congeners with dichlorinated double bonds dominate (1.24%), while the amounts of chlorobornenes with mono- and unsubstituted double bonds are negligible (0.01% and 0.12%).