Hydrophobic compounds in seawater

Hydrophobic compounds are commonly considered to be those compounds extractable with immiscible semi- or non-polar organic solvents. Included in this group are long-chain fatty acids, fatty acid esters and waxes, long-chain alcohols, steroids, hydrocarbons, phospholipids and anthropogenic compounds (e.g. chlorinated hydrocarbons, oil hydrocarbons, phthalate esters). 

Class reactions for many of the compounds are either few or non-existent and thus an evaluation of recoveries or reproducibility of the analyses is difficult. A review of the literature concerning natural lipids in seawater high-l hts the fact that detailed information has been gathered at the expense of any wide aerial surveys of the levels of these compounds in ocean waters. The concentration ranges found by various workers vary widely and in the absence of standardised methods of extraction and analysis, intercomparison of results is often impossible. 

The methods for the analysis of hydrocarbons (natural or anthropogenic) have been treated separately in Chapter 11. 

Dissolved fatty acids and esters in seawater and interstitial waters have been reported to occur in the low jug 1 range (e.g. Slowey et al., 1962 Williams, 1965 Stauffer and McIntyre, 1970 Saliot, 1975 Meyers, 1976 Boussuge et al., 1979). Reports of the occurrence of fatty acids in particu- 

Very few determinations have been made of the total fatty acid content of marine waters. Of the few methods available, a technique which is reported to be reliable is that of extraction of the free acids with chloroform at pH 2 followed by formation of a copper complex and final estimation of the complexed copper by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (Treguer et al., 1972). The free fatty acid contents are reported as palmitic acid equivalents. The method, however, has not yet been widely adopted for routine use. 

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