Chlorinated hydrocarbons in the Sargasso sea atmosphere and surface water.

Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), DDT, and chlordane concentrations were measured in air sampled from a tower on the south shore of Bermuda and in Sargasso Sea surface water approximately 80 to 320 kilometers south of Bermuda. The atmospheric chlorinated hydrocarbons appeared to be gaseous, and the DDT concentration was two orders of magnitude higher than previously reported particulate values. The PCB and DDT were enriched in the surface microlayer (150 micrometers) relative to their concentrations in water at a depth of 30 centimeters. Atmospheric residence times for PCB and DDT of 40 to 50 days, calculated from the concentrations in the air and water, are 20 times shorter than values previously estimated for DDT from rainfall and DDT production data.

Enrichment of heavy metals and organic compounds in the surface microlayer of Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island.

Concentrations of lead, iron, nickel, copper, fatty acids, hydrocarbons, and chlorinated hydrocarbons are enriched from 1.5 to 50 times in the top 100 to 150 micrometers of Narragansett Bay water relative to the bulk water 20 centimeters below the surface. Trace metal enrichment was observed in the particulate and organic fractions but not in the inorganic fraction. If these substances are concentrated in films only a few molecular layers thick on the water surface, the actual enrichment factor in the films may be well over 10(4), resulting in extremely high localized pollutant concentrations in the surface microlayer.

The purification and specificity of a lipase fromVernonia anthelmintica seed.

Acetone powders prepared fromVernonia anthelmintica seed catalyzed the release of 6.4 to 9.6 mu-moles of free fatty acids per milligram of protein when blended with olive oil and phosphate buffer and shaken for 20 min at 43 C. A 20 fold purification was achieved by differential centrifugation of an ammonium hydroxide extract of the acetone powder. Results from Sephadex G-200 chromatography and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis suggested that the lipase activity was associated with a molecule of molecular weight greater than 200,000. Free fatty acids, 1,2- and 1,3-diglycerides, monoglycerides and glycerol were found in the digestion products. With most substrates the 1,2-to 1,3-diglyceride ratio was approximately 2ratio1 and monoglycerides tended to accumulate. Analysis of the digestion products from synthetic triglycerides of known structure indicated that both primary and secondary ester positions of the triglyceride molecule were hydrolyzed and that considerable isomerization of 1,2-diglyceride to 1,3-diglyceride occurred. The monoglyceride was consistently lower than the 1,2-diglyceride and in the majority of cases also lower than the 1,3-diglyceride in the fatty acid originally present in the 2 position of the triglyceride. No fatty acid preference was observed.