Rapid determination of polybromodiphenylethers in polystyrene resin used for electrical household appliances by GC/high mass quadrupole-MS with electron impact and negative chemical ionizations

The brominated fire retardants added to polymer resin are getting attention concerning a risk of the toxicity to human health and the environment. Specifically, decabromodiphenylether (DeBDE) and decabromobiphenyl (DeBB) are restricted for use by the European Directives. The molecular weight of DeBDE is 960, and it is difficult to acquire the full spectrum by commercial quadrupole GC/MS, and none has been reported, except for a paper by the present authors. This study examined the use of a high mass quadrupole GC/MS for the simultaneous detection of polybromodiphenylethers (PBDEs) by electron impact ionization (EI) and the negative chemical ionization (NCI). The typical detection limit of DeBDE was found to be 5.2 to 53 pg/μl by EI and 2.4 to 19 pg/μl by NCI. The achieved recovery was 96.9 to 105%. The developed method was applied to industrial samples. Other brominated fire retardants were also found.