ANALYSIS OF HALOGENATED ORGANIC-COMPOUNDS IN CONIFEROUS FOREST SOIL FROM A LEPISTA-NUDA (WOOD BLEWITT) FAIRY RING

Soil collected at the are of a Lepista nuda fairy ring growing in a co niferous forest was examined for the occurrence of low-molecular-weigh t halogenated organic compounds. This was done by subjecting organic s oil extracts to GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and GC-AE D (gas chromatography-atomic emission detection) analyses. Fourteen or ganohalogens were detected and a number of these represented the major low-molecular-weight compounds found in the analysed extracts. The fo urteen compounds were chlorinated anisoles, dimethoxybenzenes, methoxy benzaldehydes methoxybenzoic acids and three brominated methoxybenzald ehydes. To our knowledge, this is the first time brominated low-molecu lar-weight compounds have been found in an unpolluted soil sample. (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd