CHLORINATED STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS IN HIGH-MOLECULAR-WEIGHT ORGANIC-MATTER FROM UNPOLLUTED WATERS AND BLEACHED-KRAFT MILL EFFLUENTS

An oxidative degradation method was used to study the occurrence of ar omatically bound halogens in high molecular weight organic matter isol ated from natural waters and bleached-kraft mill effluents. Gas chroma tographic analysis of the degradation products revealed that mono- and dichlorinated compounds were present in all analyzed samples. Further more, degradation of organic matter from natural and industrial waters resulted in the same chlorinated degradation products, although the r elative distribution of these compounds varied strongly with the type of sample. The identification of aromatically bound chlorine in fulvic acids from natural waters represents the first successful determinati on of structural elements that can explain the widespread occurrence o f adsorbable organic halogens (AOX) in unpolluted environments.