Alkaline CuO degradation products of a marine sediment sample from off Sanriku (Pacific Ocean) were analyzed in detail by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, with the following results: Approximately 150 compounds were identified in the degradation products. They include fatty acids (C8∼C<32>), alcohols (C<16>∼C<28>), α-hydroxy fatty acids (C7∼C<24>), β-hydroxy fatty acids (C8∼C22), ω-hydroxy fatty acids (C<14>∼C<24>), α, ω-dicarboxylic acids (C4∼C<22>), α-hydroxy α, ω-dicarboxylic acids (C4∼C<17>), lignin-derived phenolics (vanillyl phenols, syringyl phenols, p-coumaric acid and dimers of vanillyl phenols), and cutin-derived acids (9, 16- or 10, 16 -dihydroxy hexadecanoic acids, 8-hydroxy hexadecan-1, 16- dioic acid, 9, 10, 18-trihydroxy octadecanoic acid, 9, 10-dihydroxy octadecan-1, 18-dioic acid, 6- or 7-hydroxy pentadecan-1, 15-dioic acid), 11, 18- dihydroxy octadecanoic acid and 11, 18-dihydroxy octadecenoic acid (cis and trans). The applicability of these compounds as source indicators was discussed.
