What is Dioxin and Furan Fingerprinting?
Chemical fingerprinting is a well-established technique for distinguishing different sources of contamination in the environment. It is particularly well suited for work with families of organic compounds that occur together, such as PCBs, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and CDD/CDFs. This is because (1) these classes contain many individual compounds, which together comprise a compositional pattern, also referred to as a “profile,” a “signature,” or a “fingerprint” and (2) the relative concentrations and/or ratios of an individual profile can be used as a marker of the original source material. However, because organic compounds can be transformed in the environment through chemical weathering and biological degradation, segments of the original patterns can be altered. Another complicating factor is that multiple sources often mix together and mask the individual signatures. Environmental transformations must be considered when interpreting chemical source fingerprints. For example
