Emerging Brominated Flame Retardants in Sediments and Soils: a Review

Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are an important class of commercial chemicals used in a wide variety of products. Several established BFRs are being phased out and replaced with new compounds that are often also brominated. These compounds are so-called emerging BFRs. Very little is known about these emerging BFRs. The analysis of these emerging compounds in environmental samples can provide valuable insight into their environmental behavior. This review summarizes the studies reporting the analysis of emerging BFRs in sediment and soil samples from 2012 to 2015. A list of the different emerging BFRs detected in sediment and soil samples along with their structure is shown. In addition, the different extraction methods used for sediments and soil samples, the various clean-up methods of the sample extracts, and the instrumental analytical techniques are presented.