ABSTRACT
Polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB)- and terphenyl (PCT)-methylsulfones were isolated from the blood of yusho patients sampled in 1987 and characterized by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), electron capture detection (GC/ECD) and flame photometric detection (GC/FPD). GC/MS analysis for PCB-methylsulfones showed that all the blood tested (nine samples) contained the tri- and tetrachloro congeners. The concentrations of PCB-methylsulfones were estimated to be 15-120 ppb. PCT-methylsulfones detected in the same fraction, which were confirmed by GC/MS comparison with authentic samples as well as by GC/ECD and GC/FPD, consisted of tetra-, penta- and hexachloroterphenyl methylsulfone congeners. The levels of PCT-methylsulfones in six samples detected were preliminarily estimated to be 10-270 ppb, on the basis of a PCB-methylsulfone standard. Their origins and biological effects are unclear at present.
