DETERMINATIONS OF HEXABROMOCYCLODODECANE (HBCD) ISOMERS IN PLASTIC PRODUCTS FROM CHINA BY LC-MS/MS

Abstract

HBCD is widely used brominated flame retardant, which is increasingly reported in the environment. In the study, the determinations of three HBCD isomers, α-, β-, and γ-HBCD in plastic products by LC-MS/MS method using respective labeled compounds as internal standard were developed. Plastic products included polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polystyrene (PS), and acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS). Soxhlet extraction with n-hexane-isopropanol (1:1, v/v) was used, and extraction efficiency was confirmed to be satisfying by analyzing bromine by using XRF before and after extraction. Moreover, LC and MS/MS conditions were optimized. The limits of quantitation of 0.01, 0.005, and 0.005 mg kg⁻¹ were calculated for three HBCD isomers, respectively. Using the established methods, HBCD emerged in two PS products of 15 commercially available plastic products in China. A higher proportion of α-HBCD in two PS products was compared with that of commercial HBCD mixtures, indicating that γ-HBCD possibly isomerized to α-HBCD by heating processes to incorporate the commercial formulation into plastic products.

Keywords:

• determination
• extraction efficiency
• HBCD
• internal standard
• LC-MS/MS
• plastics products

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This study was supported by the Research Project of General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection, and Quarantine of PRC (2009IK139 and 2010IK176).

Notes

*The transition reactions were used for quantitative analysis.

^*∑HBCD: α + β + γ-HBCD.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Decong Hu

Xiaozhong Hu and Decong Hu contribute equally to this work and are both as the first author and corresponding author.