Toxaphene Residue Composition as an Indicator of Degradation Pathways

Toxaphene, a mixture of chlorinated bornanes and camphenes with a high proportion of enantiomers, can be used as an indicator for the investigation of environmental conditions which lead to the compositional pattern of toxaphene in environmental samples. Due to its persistence and long range transport, toxaphene is distributed throughout the world. The changes in composition after biotic or abiotic transformation are visible in the gas chromatograms of different environmental samples. These are important clues to translocation and degradation pathways. The results of enantioselective residue analysis and of degradation experiments with single toxaphene components suggest the dominance of photolysis over other abiotic or biotic processes in air, water, and fish.