Distribution of silicones in water, sediment and fish in Japanese rivers.

A new analytical method for assaying polyorganosiloxanes (silicones) in environmental samples is presented. The method utilizes petroleum for solvent extraction of the sample (water, sediment, biological tissue) together with inductively coupled plasma detection of the extracted organic silicones. The detection limit for silicones in the final methyl isobutyl ketone sample/extract is approximately 0.01 ppm, and the method is applied to samples from various Japanese rivers to quantify silicones in several environmental materials. Silicones are reported from river waters (up to approximately 50 ppb), riverine sediments (up to 6 ppm), and as an extractable component of fish tissue (up to approximately 0.9 ppm).