Speciation of organometal and organohalogen compounds in relation to global environmental pollution

Speciation of the elements emitted into the atmosphere plays an important role in their long range transport over the globe and their eventual pollution of remote environments. This paper describes recent results of our laboratory in: (1) organolead determinations in archives of snow and ice in Greenland and the Mont Blanc region in Western Europe. Speciation analysis together with the determination of total inorganic lead gives a clear indication on the extent of global pollution when compounds are transported over long distances in the atmosphere; and (2) determinations of volatile halocarbons in macroalgae whose transport in the stratosphere could interfere with the ozone destruction process. It is shown that the analytical methodology for the determination of a number of species is now well enough developed to allow ultra-sensitive and reliable measurements in samples collected in the remote environment and to derive interesting conclusions on long range transport processes.