ABSTRACT
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were first synthesized in 1881 and marketed under different names, and they have completely permeated the environment, although they were never deliberately sprayed or used in the open. Since 1970, the awareness of the environmental hazard caused by PCBs has resulted in much work — both environmental monitoring and toxicity evaluation. The environmental behavior and the extent of uptake of PCBs by fish are controlled by the chemistry of the PCB molecule. The lower-chlorinated PCBs are more water-soluble and easily desorbed from sediments and suspended particles. Because of their nonpolar nature, PCBs are co-extracted and co-eluted with organochlorine (OC) pesticides when routine analytical methods are employed. Not only PCBs, but other compounds too, may appear along with the OC pesticides on EC-GC chromatograms. A simultaneous study of PCBs and the DDT group compounds is advisable because of the similarity of their chemical structure and properties and hence, environmental behavior.
