title: Electrolytic debromination of PBDEs in DE-83 technical decabromodiphenyl ether.
abstract: Electrochemical debromination of the commercial decabromodiphenyl ether flame retardant DE-83 in partly aqueous tetrahydrofuran (THF) solution gave lower brominated congeners by sequential loss of bromine atoms. Hydrodebromination was most facile for the most heavily brominated congeners. It involves initial electron transfer and proton transfer from water, rather than hydrogen atom abstraction from THF, as shown by experiments with deuterated water. The product distribution from electrolysis involves preferential loss of bromine meta- and para- to the ether linkage, comparable with the products of metabolism of BDE-209 in various organisms. Significantly, the environmentally relevant congeners BDE-47, BDE-99, and BDE-154 were not major products of debromination of BDE-209 by the electron transfer mechanism.
authors.affiliation: Wellington Laboratories Inc., Research Division, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 3M5.
authors.forename: Alexandre
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Konstantinov
authors.forename: Dorin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bejan
authors.forename: Nigel J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Bunce
authors.forename: Brock
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chittim
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: McCrindle
authors.forename: Dave
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Potter
authors.forename: Colleen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Tashiro
mesh_terms: D001966:Bromine / Q000737:chemistry; D005411:Flame Retardants; D005663:Furans / Q000737:chemistry; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D054879:Halogenation; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D010647:Phenyl Ethers / Q000737:chemistry*; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C477694:2,2',4,4',5-brominated diphenyl ether; D005411:Flame Retardants; D005663:Furans; D055768:Halogenated Diphenyl Ethers; D010647:Phenyl Ethers; D011075:Polybrominated Biphenyls; C018674:tetrahydrofuran; C086401:pentabromodiphenyl ether; C010902:decabromobiphenyl ether; D001966:Bromine