ABSTRACT
Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDDs) and Polychlorinated Dibenzofurans (PCDFs) are well known environmental contaminants. A number of laboratories have synthesized many of the PCDD and PCDF congeners for analytical reference material. Photodechlorination of octachlorobiphenylene (OCBP) was performed by weighing an aliquot of OCBP and dissolving it in 10% benzene-hexane (50-400 µg/mL). Since analytical standards for the chlorinated biphenylene congeners are not available, we have prepared them by either photolysis of OCBP or chlorination of biphenylene. A simultaneous illumination of OCBP and octachlorodibenzo-furan (OCDF) was conducted for a comparison of the products. The dechlorination of OCDF produced products that were resolved by GC into the peaks. The numbers of chlorine atoms per dibenzofuran congener are labeled on the basis of analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). In chromatograms b and c, the major peak was attributed by MS analysis to a hexachloro compound with the molecular weight of the hexachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin.
