Polychlorinated camphenes

Andersson, O. and A. Wartanian. 1992. Levels of polychlorinated camphenes (toxaphene), chlordane compounds and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in seals from Swedish waters. Ambio 21 550-552. 

Toxaphene (CioHio(- 18) is a mixture of polychlorinated camphenes (bicyclic terpenes). Currently in restricted use as an insecticide, it is toxic to fish, birds and wildlife and may be fatal to shrimp, and crab, etc. (ref. 103, p. 26). Its toxicity and routes of entry in mammals are typical of the cyclic chlorinated hydrocarbons as a class ... 

Often, many simultaneously occurring pollutants or contaminants determine an environmental problem. In industry, agriculture, and households, products are often mixtures of many compounds. The process of production and consumption is accompanied by emissions and consequently by contamination. One example is the use of toxaphene in the past, a very complex mixture of polychlorinated camphenes, as a pesticide. Technical toxaphene consists of more than 175 individual compounds. A second example is industrial and domestic emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels. The emissions contain both a mixture of gases (SO2, NOx, CO2, etc.) and airborne particulate matter which itself contains a broad range of heavy metals and also polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). 

Due to the variable composition, no general abbreviation is used in the literature in contrast to the case for, e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls which are normally assigned as PCBs. Nevertheless, the following abbreviations are found in the literature PCCs (for polychlorinated camphenes) [74],CHBs [75],CBNs [2], and CB (for chlorinated bornanes or chlorobornanes) [76], and CTTs (compounds of technical toxaphene) [77]. The latter includes all substance classes of toxaphene but so far it has not found a broad application. 

Samples of seal blubber from the high-arctic archipelago Svalbard contained levels of polychlorinated camphenes comparable with those found in biota in the Baltic (Andersson et al. 1988), and the same group of compounds was dominant in samples of narwhal (Monodon monoceros) blubber from Pond Inlet, Baffin Island in the Canadian high arctic (Muir et al. 1992). 

POLYCHLORINATED CAMPHENE (8001-35-2) The solid bums with difficulty but is usually dissolved in xylene (solution flash point 84°F/29°C cc). Reacts with strong oxidizers, with a risk of fire or explosions. Decomposes on heating above 311°F/155°C on contact with strong bases, strong sunlight, and catalysts such as iron, forming hydrogen chloride. Attacks metals in the presence of moisture. 

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