Occurrence, profiles, and ecological risks of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in river sediments of Shanghai, China

Abstract Fifty-two PBDE congeners in river sediments from Shanghai were analyzed in the present study. The concentrations of Σ 51 PBDEs (defined as the sum of 51 BDE congeners except BDE209) and BDE209 ranged from 0.231 to 119 ng g −1 and from nd to 189 ng g −1 , respectively. The most abundant BDE congeners in surface sediments were BDE118, 207, 208, 99, 49, 75, 47, 71 and 209, with median values of 1.67, 1.81, 1.83, 1.87, 1.98, 2.52, 2.73, 4.62 and 45.7 ng g −1  dw, respectively. The concentrations of Σ 52 PBDEs were significantly correlated with total organic carbon (TOC) content in sediments ( p  r   1) to the sediment dwelling organisms, and pentaBDE, decaBDE and tetraBDE were the major ecological risk drivers.