Novel brominated flame retardants in West Antarctic atmosphere (2011-2018): Temporal trends, sources and chiral signature

Junpeng Zhao; Pu Wang; Chu Wang; Min Fu; Yingming Li; Ruiqiang Yang; Jianjie Fu; Yanfen Hao; Julius Matsiko; Qinghua Zhang; Guibin Jiang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137557

Novel brominated flame retardants in West Antarctic atmosphere (2011-2018): Temporal trends, sources and chiral signature

Sci Total Environ. 2020 Jun 10:720:137557. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137557. Epub 2020 Feb 25.

Authors

Junpeng Zhao¹, Pu Wang², Chu Wang¹, Min Fu³, Yingming Li⁴, Ruiqiang Yang⁴, Jianjie Fu⁴, Yanfen Hao¹, Julius Matsiko⁵, Qinghua Zhang⁶, Guibin Jiang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; Institute of Environment and Health, Jianghan University, Wuhan 430056, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Research on Marine Hazards Forecasting, National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center, Beijing 100081, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
⁵ Directorate of Research, Innovation, Consultancy and Extension, Kampala International University, P.O. Box 20000, Kampala, Uganda; Department of Chemistry, Busitema University, P.O. Box 236, Tororo, Uganda.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; Institute of Environment and Health, Jianghan University, Wuhan 430056, China. Electronic address: qhzhang@rcees.ac.cn.

PMID: 32145627
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.137557

Abstract

Novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) were comprehensively investigated in both gaseous and particle phase samples collected using a high-volume active air sampler (HV-AAS) at the Chinese Great Wall Station in King George Island, West Antarctica from 2011 to 2018. The concentrations of ∑₁₂NBFRs ranged from 0.27 to 3.0 pg m^-3, with a mean value of 1.1 ± 0.50 pg m^-3 and the levels showed a slightly increasing trend over the eight years. Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE) was the predominant NBFR with a relative contribution of 50% on average. Most of the studied NBFRs tended to distribute in gaseous phase with an average ratio of 72 ± 16% while NBFRs with higher log K_OA values had higher proportions in particle phase. The gas/particle partitioning models were employed to evaluate the environmental behavior of NBFRs. Compared to the equilibrium-state-based model, the steady-state-based model performed much better to predict the gas/particle partitioning of NBFRs in the West Antarctic atmosphere. Additionally, no temperature dependence was found for NBFRs except rac-(1R,2R,5R,6R)-1,2,5,6-tetrabromocyclooctane (β-TBCO). The annual mean concentrations of ∑₁₂NBFRs showed a significantly negative correlation with the frequency of east-southeast (ESE, 112.5°) wind and calm wind (~0 m s^-1) (p < 0.05), and a significantly positive correlation with the frequency of wind from northwest interval (west to north-northwest, 270° to 337.5°) (p < 0.05), suggesting a significant effect of air mass from the ocean area. Furthermore, the chiral signature of NBFRs showed commonly non-racemic residue in the atmosphere. The enantiomer fractions (EF) of rac-(1R,2R)-1,2-dibromo-(4S)-4-((1R)-1,2-dibromoethly)cyclohexane (α-TBECH) and β-TBCO were 0.115-0.962 and 0.281-0.795, revealing secondary sources of NBFRs, e.g., seawater-air exchange and/or non-racemic residue in the source regions. As far as we know, this is one of very few studies on NBFRs in the Antarctic atmosphere.

Keywords: Antarctica; Gas/particle partitioning; Long-range atmospheric transport; NBFRs.