Identification and Evaluation of a Novel Heterocyclic Brominated Flame Retardant Tris(2,3-dibromopropyl) Isocyanurate in Environmental Matrices near a Manufacturing Plant in Southern China

A brominated flame retardant (BFR), hexabrominated heterocyclic tris-(2,3-dibromopropyl) isocyanurate (TBC), was identified, for the first time, in the natural environment. The chemical was found in river water (2.33-163 ng/L), surface sediments (85.0 ng/g-6.03 mu g/g dry weight (dw)), soils (19.6-672 ng/g dw), earthworm (9.76-78.8 ng/g dw), and carp samples (12.0-646 ng/g dw) from a factory-polluted area in southern China. It was found that TBC can strongly adsorb to organic material in sediment, and a trend of decreasing concentration with distance from the source in soil and earthworm samples, combined with calculated K-ow (octanol-water partition coefficient) and K-oa (octanol-air partition coefficient), suggests its potential ability to undergo regional transportation through dust deposition. Calculated results showed high K-ow (log K-ow = 7.37) and bioaccumulation factor (BAF) (log BAF = 4.30) of this BFR and indicate that TBC has semivolatile properties and bioaccumulation characteristic in certain biological species. Quantitative structure property relationships (QSPRs) modeling revealed that TBC has K-oa, (log K-oa = 23.68) and K-aw (air-water partition coefficient) (log K-aw = -16.31) values several orders higher than those of other BFRs. The identification of this chemical additive further reminds us that the production and usage of heterocyclic BFRs may cause potential contamination to the surrounding environment.