Occurrence, bioaccumulation, fate, and risk assessment of novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) in aquatic environments — A critical review

Novel Brominated Flame Retardants (NBFRs) in a Tropical Marine Food Web from the South China Sea: The Influence of Hydrophobicity and Biotransformation on Structure-Related Trophodynamics

“…First, we only analyzed the dissolved phase of NBFR concentrations in seawater. However, due to the high hydrophobicity of most NBFRs, they preferred to be distributed into the particulate phase of seawater . Therefore, the calculated BAFs should be interpreted with caution.…”

“…NBFRs are used as additives that are mixed directly into the product during the synthesis of the polymer and applied in numerous consumer products, such as electrical equipment, plastics, insulation materials, and textiles . The most representative NBFRs include decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), 1,2-bis­(2,4,6-tribromophenoxy)­ethane (BTBPE), tetrabromobisphenol A bis­(dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPA–DBPE), 2-ethylhexyl 2,3,4,5-tetrabromobenzoate (TBB), bis­(2-ethylhexyl)-3,4,5,6-tetrabromo-phthalate (TBPH), 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromotoluene (PBT), hexabromobenzene (HBB), pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), and 1,2-dibromo-4-(1,2-dibromoethyl) cyclohexane (TBECH). , With the global restriction on primary legacy BFRs, NBFRs have been increasingly produced and used in the past few years as replacements, with global production estimated to be 100 to 180 kilotons per year …”

“…The physicochemical properties and biotransformation capacity have been suggested as important factors that can influence the compound-specific trophodynamic behavior of NBFRs in the aquatic food web. , It was reported that NBFRs with higher Log K OW values have greater bioaccumulation capacity than those with lower Log K OW values. , However, great uncertainty exists in evaluating the trophodynamics when only the hydrophobicity of NBFRs is used for the evaluation. , The trophic magnification factors (TMFs) of BFRs (including NBFRs) in a food web from the Bohai Sea were found to exhibit a trend of first-rising-and-then-falling against their Log K OW values . Previous studies have also found slight biotransformation of several NBFRs in fish and marine mammals, ,− thereby affecting the trophic transfer behaviors of NBFRs in the food web .…”

Decabromodiphenyl Ethane Mainly Affected the Muscle Contraction and Reproductive Endocrine System in Female Adult Zebrafish

“…DBDPE concentrations in liver, gonad, or brain (3 tissues per replicate, n = 3) were detected using an Agilent 7890A-5975C gas chromatograph–-mass spectrometer as previously described. , The tissues were selected based on the following reasons: (1) polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) have been detected with higher concentrations in brain, liver, and gonad than in other tissues. , (2) DBDPE shares a similar structure and exhibits similar physicochemical properties to PBDEs, which may lead to similar distribution profiles in different tissues of organism . (3) DBDPE has shown similar distribution profiles among different tissues in chicken or rats. , Detailed protocols for sample pretreatment, analysis, quality assurance, and quality control (QA/QC) are available in the Supporting Information (Text S1).…”

Nothing lasts forever: understanding microbial biodegradation of polyfluorinated compounds and perfluorinated alkyl substances

“…Some aromatic natural products substituted with chlorine and bromine substituents (Fig. 2 ) resemble specific industrial chlorinated biphenyl and brominated aromatic ethers (Hou et al ., 2021 ). Polyhalogenated methanes are also natural products (Gribble, 2015 ) and may have primed the biodegradation of industrial halomethane solvents.…”