Analysis and Occurrences of Methoxylated Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers and Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers in Channel Catfish, Crayfish, Fish Feeds and Fishmeal from China

Abstract

PBDEs are widely used brominated flame retardant, which are increasingly reported in the environment. MeO-PBDEs are structural analogs to PBDEs, and reported as natural products and novel pollutants present in the environment. Concentrations of thirteen PBDEs and eight MeO-PBDEs in a large number of channel catfish, crayfish, fish feeds and fishmeal collected from Hubei province of China were investigated in this study. A fast isotopic dilution GC-MS method was firstly developed to simultaneously determine thirteen PBDEs and eight MeO-PBDEs in channel catfish, crayfish, fish feeds and fishmeal in this study, and especially for the first time MeO-PBDEs and PBDEs in crayfish, fish feeds and fishmeal. Pressurized liquid extraction and multi-layer silica gel column chromatography cleanup were used, and some important steps and crucial parameters were modified and intensified compared with other literatures. Besides, the conditions of GC and MS were also optimized. The limits of quantitation values of 0.25-5, 1-5 μg kg-1 wet weight in channel catfish and crayfish were calculated for PBDEs and MeO-PBDEs, respectively; so did 1-20, 4-20 μg kg-1 wet weight in fish feeds and fishmeal. In addition, good repeatability and accuracy of the whole method were achieved. The established methods were therefore suitable for the simultaneous determinations of thirteen PBDEs and eight MeO-PBDEs in these samples at trace contamination levels. Using the established methods, PBDEs or MeO-PBDEs emerged in 2 of 80 channel catfish, 1 of 80 crayfish, 6 of 60 fish feeds and 4 of 40 fishmeal, and in low-μg kg-1 wet weight for these samples.