Characterization of three major toxaphene congeners in arctic ringed seal by electron ionization and electron capture negative ion mass spectrometry.

Three environmentally significant chlorinated bornane (CHB) congeners were extracted from Arviat ringed seal blubber and identified by using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (HRGC/HRECNIMS (CH4), low resolution EIMS, and linked field scanning). They are referred to as TS2 (Parlar#39, B8-531) [2-exo,3-endo,5-exo,6,6,8b,9c,10c (or 10a)-octachlorobornane], TS3 (Parlar#40, B8-1414) [2-endo,3-exo,5-endo,6-exo,8c,9b,10a,10c (or 10b)-octachlorobornane] and TS4 (Parlar#42, Toxicant A, B8-806/809) [2-exo,3-endo,6,6,8b,8c,9c,10c (or 10a)-octachlorobornane/2-exo,3-endo,6,6,8b,9b,9c,10a (or 10b)-octachlorobornane]. This is the first time Toxicant A, known to be the most toxic CHB congener in technical toxaphene, has been found in any significant concentration in a marine mammal.