Publications

Development of a procedure for the determination of selected brominated flame retardants (PBB, PBDE) in plastics by HPLC-ICP-MS

This report details the development of methodology for the accurate quantification of selected polybrominated biphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) in plastic materials by HPLC-ICP-MS. Accurate quantification of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) can only be achieved when several significant challenges have been overcome. Among these are the suitable grinding or milling of the plastic, the selective extraction minimising co-extraction of possibly interfering compounds, photolytic degradation in the presence of UV light, thermal instability, especially of BDE-209 during extraction and the chromatographic process, and quantification over a wide concentration range of the individual congeners (1 to 1000mg/kg). In addition, and more importantly, is the access to traceable calibrants and internal standards of sufficient purity to enable quantification.

The developed procedure provides high accuracy results for brominated flame retardants in polymers with minimal thermal debromination. The use of LC-ICP-MS also provides a useful tool for purity and concentration assessment calibrants.

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