Pitfalls in the analysis of brominated flame retardants in environmental, human and food samples – including results of three international interlaboratory studies

Since the beginning of this century, an increasing number of laboratories have become involved in the analysis of brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in the environment, humans and food. To assure as well as improve the quality of these analyses, a series of international interlaboratory exercises has been organized. It appeared that the differences between the BFRs create more difficulties for their analysis than, for example, that of polychlorinated biphenyls. Problems that arise with the determination of decabromodiphenyl ether and hexabromocyclododecane, due to instability at higher temperatures, high background values and other factors, make their analysis much more demanding than, for example, that of 2,4,2′,4′-tetrabromodiphenylether. A number of these pitfalls can be identified from the evaluation of the interlaboratory study results. We propose analytical solutions for these problems.