Theoretical consideration of the structural variety in the toxaphene mixture taking into account recent experimental results

There are still wide differences in the number of congeners estimated and measured for the insecticidal toxaphene mixture. Purely theoretical considerations are not very helpful, since compounds with the most unlikely Cl substitution are counted and included just like those that are known and already isolated. Counting the substances with the aid of a high resolution GC-MS system can, aside from the errors that are involved, not provide any structural information except whether the compounds are saturated or unsaturated. For this reason it is not known what chlorine substitutions are possible for the bornanes and accordingly which are present in the mixture. Recent results on the isolation and structural elucidation of 27 congeners form the basis for postulates made in this contribution concerning the structure of chlorinated bornanes and a calculation of the number of significant toxaphene components. This allows a concrete picture to be formed of this class of substance.