Mass spectrometric identification of novel polychlorinated phenyl salicylates in sediments of a river contaminated by industrial wastes

Analyses of chlorinated aromatic contaminants in industrially polluted sediments of the Kymijoki River, South-East Finland, were extended to the search of previously unknown pollutants by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. In the fraction of persistent organochlorines, a series of substances were identified as octa- to tetra-chlorinated phenyl esters of 2-hydroxybenzoic acids (most probably all polychlorinated phenyl salicylates). All their mass spectra were previously unknown and interpreted by fragmentation rules, appearance energy calculations and simulation.