Micro(nano)plastics from synthetic oligomers persisting in Mediterranean seawater: Comprehensive NMR analysis, concerns and origins

The presence in seawater of low-molecular-weight polyethylene (PE) and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), synthetic polymers with high chemical resistance, has been demonstrated in this study for the first time by developing a novel methodology for their recovery and quantification from surface seawater. These synthetic polymer debris (SPD) with very low molecular weights and sizes in the nano- and micro-metre range have escaped conventional analytical methods. SPD have been easily recovered from water samples (2 L) through filtration with a nitrocellulose membrane filter with a pore size of 0.45 μm. Dissolving the filter in acetone allowed the isolation of the particulates by centrifugation followed by drying. The isolated SPD were analysed by