Laboratory of Advanced Analytical Chemistry and Detection Technology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Engineering, Dongguan University of Technology, Dongguan 523808, China.
State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, China.
Anal Chem. 2023 Jul 4;95(26):10052-10060. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.3c01422. Epub 2023 Jun 19.
Halogenated organic additives (HOAs) are used in plastic components of various electrical products, potentially causing detrimental effects on the eco-environment and humans. Besides reported HOAs, many unknown HOAs may be present in electrical product plastics and urgently require identification and characterization. This study performed nontarget analysis and comprehensive characterization of HOAs in three typical electrical product plastics by nontarget analysis using gas chromatography-negative chemical ionization-high-resolution mass spectrometry in association with in-house-developed chlorine/bromine-specific data-processing algorithms. A total of 674 formulas of HOAs were identified in the plastics dismantled from three electrical products, among which 166, 362, and 146 were organochlorines, organobromines, and mix-chlorinated/brominated organic compounds, respectively. The identified HOAs were semiquantified, and the total concentrations of HOAs in individual plastics were 445-1549 ng/g. Organobromines showed the most species and the highest abundances in all of the plastics, of which the abundances accounted for 86.6-98.0% of the total HOAs. Partial HOAs (209 formulas) were tentatively structurally elucidated, which were classified into 13 groups, i.e., halogenated alkyl phenoxyethyls (H-alkyl phenoxyethyls), H-alkylbenzenes, H-benzenes, H-bisphenol A (H-BPAs), H-dioxins, H-diphenyl ethers, H-biphenyls/terphenyls, H-polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, H-phenols, H-phenyl esters, H-phenyl-aldehydes/ketones, H-quinones, and an undefined group containing the HOAs such as dechlorane plus and chlordane. H-BPAs were the predominant HOAs in the plastics, showing relatively high concentrations (13-281 ng/g), and tetrabromobisphenol A was the most abundant H-BPA, with the concentrations of 9-196 ng/g. The comprehensive characterization results represent a holistic picture on the species features and abundance distributions of HOAs in electrical product plastics and provide an inventory of crucial HOAs worthy of concern. HOAs may migrate from plastics and release into the environment and are possibly an important source of halogenated organic pollutants in the environment, thus calling for further investigation and proper regulation.
卤代有机添加剂 (HOAs) 被广泛应用于各种电器产品的塑料组件中，可能对生态环境和人类健康造成不利影响。除了已报道的 HOAs 外，电器产品塑料中可能还存在许多未知的 HOAs，因此迫切需要对其进行鉴定和表征。本研究采用气相色谱-负化学电离-高分辨率质谱联用技术，并结合自主开发的氯/溴特异性数据处理算法，对三种典型电器产品塑料中的 HOAs 进行了非靶向分析和综合表征。在所拆解的三种电器产品塑料中，共鉴定出 674 种 HOAs 分子，其中有机氯、有机溴和混合氯/溴有机化合物分别有 166、362 和 146 种。对鉴定出的 HOAs 进行了半定量分析，各塑料中 HOAs 的总浓度为 445-1549ng/g。在所有塑料中，有机溴的种类最多，丰度最高，占总 HOAs 的 86.6-98.0%。对部分 HOAs（209 种）进行了结构推测，将其分为 13 组，包括卤代烷基苯氧基乙基（H-烷基苯氧基乙基）、H-烷基苯、H-联苯、H-双酚 A（H-BPA）、H-二噁英、H-二苯醚、H-联苯/三联苯、H-多环芳烃、H-苯酚、H-苯酯、H-苯醛/酮、H-醌和一个包含 HOAs 如氯丹和氯仿的未定义组。H-BPA 是塑料中主要的 HOAs，浓度相对较高（13-281ng/g），四溴双酚 A 是最丰富的 H-BPA，浓度为 9-196ng/g。综合表征结果全面展示了电器产品塑料中 HOAs 的种类特征和丰度分布，为值得关注的关键 HOAs 提供了清单。HOAs 可能会从塑料中迁移并释放到环境中，并且可能是环境中卤代有机污染物的重要来源，因此需要进一步调查和适当监管。
