Pollutants aromatic organohalogenated

Next to PCBs and PCDD/Fs, other families of environmentally relevant aromatic organohalogenated pollutants rapidly attracted the attention of researchers working with GCxGC. Because of their widespread use and rapid increase of their environmental levels during the last decades, most attention was directed to flame retardants and, in particular, to PBDEs [23,27]. 

As recently as 1970, only about 30 naturally occurring organohalogen compounds were known. It was simply assumed that chloroform, halogenated phenols, chlorinated aromatic compounds called PCBs, and other such substances found in the environment were industrial pollutants. Now, only a third of a century later, the situation js quite different. More than 5000 organohalogen compounds have been found to occur naturally, and tens of thousands more surely exist. From a simple compound like chloromethane to an extremely complex one like vancomycin, a remarkably diverse range of organohalogen compounds exists in plants, bacteria, and animals. Many even have valuable physiological activity. Vancomycin, for instance, is a powerful antibiotic produced by the bacterium Amycolatopsis orientalis and used clinically to treat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). 

---