COMPARISON OF THE COMPOSITIONS OF AROCLOR-1242 AND AROCLOR-1016

The complete polychlorinated biphenyl compositions of two American products, Aroclor 1242 and its more modern replacement, Aroclor 1016, have been determined by gas-liquid chromatograhy (GLC) on twelve liquid phases of differing selectivities. Attempts were made to determine the degree of contamination of these Aroclors with chlorinated naphthalenes, using GLC with multiple ion-monitoring mass spectrometry. Chlorinated dibenzofurans, indectable in Aroclor 1016, were tentatively identified by negative chemical-ionization mass spectrometry and their retention times relative to dieldrin on two GLC liquid phases. Quantitation of the dibenzofurans was initially accomplished using an electron-capture detector, and confirmed by negative chemical-ionization mass spectrometry. Aroclor 1242 contained less than 0.05 mol.% chloronaphthalenes, while Aroclor 1016 contained less than 0.06 mol.% of these compounds. Aroclor 1242 had approximately 150 ppb of chlorinated dibenfurans, of which 43% was the toxic 2,3,7,9-tetrachloro isomer. © 1979.