Photochemical studies of a polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDES) technical mixture by solid phase microextraction (SPME)

In this work the photochemical behaviour of a technical mixture of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) (BDE-47, BDE-99, BDE-100, BDE-153 and BDE-154) has been studied. The mixture of BDEs was extracted from aqueous solutions using SPME fibers that were subsequently exposed to different UV irradiation times, procedure so-called Photo-SPME. PBDEs photochemical studies in such medium have been accomplished for the first time. Twenty one different photoproducts, all of them generated by successive bromine atoms losses, have been identified, being their photoformation–photodegradation curves easily determined by the Photo-SPME technique.