Detection of environmental polyorganosiloxanes (silicones) by silicon-29 NMR spectroscopy

The utility of ²⁹Si NMR spectroscopy has been demonstrated on sediment-like materials in the quantitative and qualitative determination of polyorganosiloxanes (silicones) in selected environmental samples. This technique is highly selective for polydimethylsiloxanes (PDMS) and is non-destructive to the sample. Also, specific identification of polyorganosiloxanes in sediment is possible, in contrast to previous methods which provided only quantitative information while consuming the sample. The detection limit for a 9 h experiment is approximately 45 ppm.