Theoretical study on the mechanism and kinetics of the reaction of 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-47) with OH radicals

The mechanism and kinetic properties of OH-initiated gas-phase reaction of 2,2′,4,4′-tetrabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-47) have been studied at the MPWB1K/6-311 + G(3df,2p)//MPWB1K/6-31G(d) level of theory. Two types of reactions including hydroxyl addition and hydrogen abstraction have been considered. The calculation results indicate that addition reactions except for the bromo-substituted addition reaction have lower energy barriers than hydrogen abstraction reactions. Hydroxyl radical is most likely to be added to non-substituted C atoms (C(3), C(5), and C(6) atoms). Moreover, for all the reactions with OH radical, the bromo-substituted C atoms encountered the highest barrier compared to that of the rest C atoms. The rate constants and product branching ratios of each pathway have been deduced over a wide range of 200–1000 K using canonical variational transition state (CVT) theory with small curvature tunneling (SCT) contribution. This study can be regarded as an attempt to investigate the OH-initiated photochemical reaction mechanism of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs).