Quantitative 1H NMR-analysis of technical octabrominated diphenylether DE-79™ and UV spectra of its components and photolytic transformation products

A quantitative analysis of the technical octabromo diphenylether mixture DE-79™ is performed by 1H NMR, avoiding any separation technique. The mass fractions are 36% BDE183, 19% BDE197, 13.1% BDE207, 9.1% BDE196, 7.3% BDE153, 6.2% BDE203, 2.2% BDE180, 1.6% BDE171, 1.2% BDE154 and 0.7% BDE206, considering an additional mass fraction of 1.3% BDE209 determined by HPLC analysis with a diode array detector (DAD). HPLC chromatograms of the BDEs in commercial decaBDE, octaBDE DE-79™ and pentaBDE DE-71™ and UV spectra of the components of DE-79™ are presented. The photolysis of the octaBDE mixture DE-79™, dissolved in tetrahydrofuran, by simulated sunlight is monitored by HPLC-DAD and observed to proceed mainly via debromination. Polybrominated dibenzofurans are identified from their UV spectra as significant intermediates.