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3064741 
Technical Report 
Characterization of interferences in the analysis of serum for DDT and its metabolites 
Holler, JS; Yert, LW; Patterson, DG; Smrek, AL; Needham, LL 
1981 
PESTAB/81/1791 
Chromatogr 
3 
PESTAB. A series of contaminants was encountered during the gas chromatographic analysis for DDT and its metabolites in human serum. Further study indicated that the interfering compounds were a series of low-molecular-wt polymeric materials extracted by hexane from a Kel-F valve in the solvent dispensing system. The 3 intermittent peaks of primary interest which interfered in the quantitation of DDT and metabolites were located at 0.26, 0.60 and 1.63 relative to p,p'-DDE. Examination of the Kel-F valve in the solvent dispensing system showed that the polymer is composed of trifluorochloroethylene units. This system leaches these fluorochlorocarbon contaminants in the process of dispensing hexane. The fact that this particular solvent was used only to calibrate glassware for volume and was not in use during the extraction procedure caused the appearance of these compounds to be very sporadic and caused difficulty in arriving at an explanation.