4. Methods of analysis

4.1 Chloride analysis

Monitoring chlorides helps to confirm the degradation of chlordecone by measuring the chlorides released, but does not identify the transformation products. Two main techniques are used for this purpose.

Ion chromatography is a technique used to measure chloride concentrations. By measuring chloride ions in solution, their increase can be monitored, which may be related to the rate of degradation. KOH can be used as an eluent. The limit of quantification of 0.5 mg/L is achieved using a Dionex ICS-3000 system (Dionex-ThermoScientific, Sunnyvale, CA) with an AS autosampler and eluent generator. An IonPac AS15 anion exchange column (250 × 4 mm i.d., Dionex) coupled with an IonPac AG15 guard column (50 × 4 mm i.d.) was used for separation...