Congener-specific analysis of chloronaphthalenes in white-tailed sea eagles Haliaeetus albicilla breeding in Poland

Forty-four congeners of higher chlorinated naphthalenes were identified and quantified in the breast muscles, liver and adipose fat of a few specimens of white-tailed sea eagle collected from the Baltic coastal and inland breeding areas in Poland in 1991–1992. Many of the identified chloronaphthalenes (CNs) were well resolved as single peaks on the Rtx-5 HRGC-MS/EI-SIR chromatograms; but still some of them coeluted in pairs (four tetra-, two penta- and six hexa-CNs) or triplicate (six tetra-CNs) on the chromatograms. All tetra-, penta-, hexa- and hepta-CNs present in Halowax 1014, a technical mixture of CNs, were found in the tissues of white-tailed sea eagles indicating a high persistency of these ubiquitous environmental contaminants. The profile and pattern of chloronaphthalenes found in sea eagles differed largely from that of Halowax 1014, suggesting a selective and structure-related metabolism of many CN congeners. Among the most persistent and highly bioaccumulating CNs in tissues of the sea eagles were congeners such as 1,3,5,7-T4CN (CAʹ no. 42), 1,2,4.6-/1,2,4,7-/1,2,5,7-T4CN (CN nos. 33/34/37) and 1,4,6,7-T4CN (CN no. 47); 1,2,3,5,7-/1.2,4,6,7-P5CN (CNnos. 52/60) and 1,2,4,6,8-P5CN (CN no. 61), and 1,2,3,4,6,7-/1,2,3,5.6,7-H6CN. Differences in the metabolic potency of some of the most persistent tetra- and penta-CNs were observed between juvenile and adult white-tailed sea eagles. The CN congener no. 54 (1,2,3,6,7-P5CN) also is present in tissues of white-tailed sea eagles. It is formed during combustion processes and has not been found in the technical mixtures of PCNs of the Halowax series.