New approach based on solid-phase microextraction to estimate polydimethylsiloxane fibre coating–water distribution coefficients for brominated flame retardants

A depletion solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method based on multiple SPME extraction was applied to estimate fibre coating–water distribution constants (Kfs) of brominated flame retardants. Several polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) including compounds present in the commercial mixture “Pentamix”, and two polybrominated biphenyls (PBBs) were considered as target analytes. One hundred-micrometer poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) coating fibre was selected to estimate partition coefficients. SPME kinetics studies at 25 and 100 °C were performed. Kfs values obtained at both temperatures for brominated flame retardants were compared with the corresponding octanol–water partition coefficients (Kow) values found in literature. A linear log–log relationship between Kow with Kfs was found. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where brominated flame retardants Kfs values are estimated.