Occurrence, compositional profiles and possible sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in urban soils of Shanghai, China

By a long-term field investigation, occurrence, compositional profiles and possible sources of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDE) were analyzed with 55 samples collected from surface soil at the urban areas of Shanghai. The results showed that 29 PBDE were detected among 44 target PBDEs. The concentrations of ∑29PBDE ranged from 23.6 to 3797 ng kg−1 with a mean value of 735 ng kg−1. BDE209 was the predominant congener in a range of 0.291–2910 ng kg−1 with a mean of 477 ng kg−1 in agreement with the fact that commercial decabromodiphenyl ether (DeBDE) mixtures were dominant technical PBDEs mixtures used in China. Meanwhile, PBDE congeners and homologues analysis and principal component analysis (PCA) also revealed that the major source of PBDE in the soil samples was associated with the prevalent use of technical DePBDE. The correlation analysis proved that there was a significant correlation between total organic carbon (TOC) and individual PBDEs excluding BDE209, suggesting the significant influence of TOC on PBDE contamination in soil.