Phthalate esters in the Kiel Bight

Phthalate plasticizers have been accumulated from filtered seawater by liquid—solid adsorption, and in suspended organic matter collected on glass-fibre filters. They were characterized by gas chromatographic retention indices and by their mass spectra. Single-ion detection, focused on m/e 149, was used as a selective and sensitive method to quantify different phthalate esters in Baltic seawater in the 1:10¹⁰–1:10¹¹ concentration range.