Hydroxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (OH-PBDEs) in the Abiotic Environment: Surface Water and Precipitation from Ontario, Canada

Abstract

Hydroxylated polybrominated diphenyl ethers (OH-PBDEs) have been identified as metabolites of PBDEs, and also as compounds of natural origin in the marine environment; however, there has only been very limited study of their presence in the abiotic environment. In the present study, OH-PBDEs were determined in samples of surface water and precipitation (rain and snow) collected from sites in Ontario, Canada. OH-PBDEs were detected in all the samples analyzed, although half of the observed peaks did not correspond to any of the 18 authentic standards available. Fluxes of sigmaOH-PBDEs ranged from 3.5 to 190 pg/m2 in snow and from 15 to 170 pg/m2/day in rain, and those were higher at three of the southern Ontario locations relative to a single northern remote site. Concentrations of sigmaOH-PBDEs ranged from 2.2 to 70 pg/L in water and from < 1 to 420 pg/g in particulate organic carbon (POC), and higher values were found near sewage treatment plant (STP) outfalls in Lake Ontario. Partition coefficients (log K(oc)) for OH-PBDEs ranged from 4.0 to 5.1. The results in this study suggest that OH-PBDEs are ubiquitous in the abiotic environment and most likely are produced through reaction of PBDEs with atmospheric OH radicals. As well, they may be present in surface waters near STPs due to oxidation of PBDEs and inflows from metabolism by humans and animals.

Hydroxylated PBDEs and brominated phenolic compounds in particulate matters emitted during recycling of waste printed circuit boards in a typical e-waste workshop of South China

“…Ortho OH-substituted OH-PBDEs have been identified as naturally occurring formulations in marine organisms such as sponges, tunicates, and algae (Fu et al, 1995;Malmvarn et al, 2005;Unson et al, 1994). OH-PBDEs in the abiotic samples (surface water and precipitation) were dominated by ortho substituted congeners (Ueno et al, 2008). In this study, two of the five identified OH-PBDE congeners were substituted in ortho position, other two congeners were in meta position, and another one were substituted in para position.…”

“…The comparison of relative abundance of the identified OH-PBDE congeners found in this study, with that in plasma of pelagic fish species from the Detroit River (Valters et al, 2005), human serum samples from e-waste dismantling region (Ren et al, 2011), and snow and rain samples from Ontario, Canada (Ueno et al, 2008) are present in Fig. 3.…”

“…Extraction and isolation of phenolic faction and neutral faction were based on the method described by Ueno et al (2008), with some modifications. An aliquot of filter samples (1/4) were spiked with a mixture of recovery standards (BDEs-51, -128, 13 C-BDE-209 and 13 C-4 0 -OH-PCB-79) and then Soxhlet extracted with dichloromethane (DCM) for 48 h. The solvent extract was concentrated to 1 mL and HCl was added to lower the pH before another extraction with 2-propanol and 1:1 (v/v) methyl tert-butyl ether (MTBE)/hexane mixture.…”

“…It can be seen that the OH-PBDE congener patterns were different. Tetra-and penta-brominated OH-PBDEs were the major components in snow and rain samples collected from Ontario, Canada, and 5-OH-BDE-47 was the major congener (Ueno et al, 2008) (Fig. S8).…”

“…Additionally, gas phase reactions of mono-and di-BDEs with present of OH radicals could yield bromophenols with OH-PBDEs as intermediates (Raff and Hites, 2006). Ueno et al (2008) examined OH-PBDEs in surface water and precipitation, and suggested that the reaction between PBDEs and atmospheric OH radicals probably yield OH-PBDEs. OHPBDEs are reported to be more toxic than PBDEs and the biological systems effected are the disruption of thyroid hormone homeostasis, neurotoxic, oxidative phosphorylation and sex hormone steroidogenesis (Canton et al, 2008;Dingemans et al, 2008;Meerts et al, 2001).…”