Structures of six cyclic polysulfides, previously unkown as organic environmental pollutants, were analyzed from a sediment sample from the Eastern Gulf of Finland. The determinations were done by gas chromatography (GC) coupled to mass spectrometry. High-resolution mass spectrometry measurements of the isotopic composition of four compounds could be done to confirm their molecular formulae. Total low-resolution mass spectrometry spectra were used to elucidate structures of all six compounds by a thermochemical approach, application of fragmentation rules and by ICLU simulation of the spectra. The compounds were found to be (in the order of GC retention) 1,2,4-trithiacycloheptane, tetrathiacyclopentane, 1,2,4,5-tetrathiacyclohexane, 1,2,3,4-tetrathiacycloheptane, 1,2,3,4-tetrathiacyclohexane and 1,2,4,6-tetrathiacyclooctane.Keywords: electron impact mass spectra, high-resolution mass measurement, novel sediment contaminants, simulation of mass spectra
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