The rising importance of organohalogens in environmental, pharmaceutical, and biological applications has drawn attention to analysis of these compounds in recent years. Elemental mass spectrometry (MS) is particularly advantageous in this regard because of its ability to quantify without compound-specific standards. However, low sensitivity of conventional elemental MS for halogens has hampere...

The synthesis of halogenated compounds in biological systems is well established, yet the mechanisms by which these compounds are formed are poorly understood. Many commercially important compounds, such as pharmaceuticals and agrochemicals, contain halogens; indeed some halogenated natural products, such as the antibiotic vancomycin, are themselves valuable. Furthermore, several environmentall...

Since the 1970s, an increasing number of regulations have expanded the use of brominated and chlorinated flame retardants. Many of these chemicals are now recognized as global contaminants and are associated with adverse health effects in animals and humans, including endocrine and thyroid disruption, immunotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, cancer, and adverse effects on fetal and child developm...

Certain polyhalogenated aromatic hydrocarbons such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dibenzo-p-dioxins (dioxins, 2,3,7, 8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin) have been shown to have neurotoxic effects and to alter thyroid function during critical periods of thyroid hormone-dependent brain development. This has led to the suggestion that some of the neurotoxic effects of these compounds could be ...

Residues of brominated diphenylethers (PBDEs), organochlorinated pesticides (OCPs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were measured in 40 eggs of little owls (Athene noctua), a terrestrial top predator from Belgium. The major organohalogens detected were PCBs (median 2,600 ng/g lipid, range 790-23 000 ng/g lipid). PCB 153,138/163, 170, 180 and 187 were the predominant congeners and constitute...

Maternal exposure to environmental pollutants could affect fetal brain development and increase autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk in conjunction with differential genetic susceptibility. Organohalogen congeners measured in maternal midpregnancy blood samples have recently shown significant, but negative associations with offspring ASD outcome. We report the first large-scale maternal and feta...

Introduction. Monitoring of organohalogens in the glaucous gull (Larus hyperboreus) has been given high priority in Svalbard (Norwegian Arctic). Glaucous gulls are distributed widely in the Arctic and are an important avian scavenger-predator in the marine food web. Thus far among circumpolar arctic seabirds, glaucous gulls from Svalbard are reported to accumulate some of the highest concentrat...

The brown macroalga Saccharina latissima (Linnaeus) C.E. Lane, C. Mayes, Druehl & G.W. Saunders (formerly Laminaria saccharina [L.] Lamouroux) was exposed to ultraviolet radiation (UVR) in the mW UV-A and mW UV-B range in the laboratory for up to 28 days. The release rates of volatile organohalogens, such as chloroform, bromoform, dibromomethane and methyl iodide, were determined. From these ra...