Congener pattern of hexabromobiphenyls in marine biota from different proveniences
2008
von der Recke, Roland | Vetter, Walter
Blubber of seals, harbour porpoises and fish originating from the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, as well as coastal waters of Iceland and North America were analyzed for residues of polybrominated biphenyls. According to GC/ECNI-MS, hexabromobiphenyls (hexaBBs) dominated in the samples, followed by pentabromobiphenyls (pentaBBs) and heptabromobiphenyls (heptaBBs), whereas octabromobiphenyls (octaBBs) were only detected in selected samples and nonabromobiphenyls (nonaBBs) and PBB 209 were not found at all. Eleven peaks of hexaBBs--two peaks might have been each composed of two congeners, respectively--were detected in the different samples. The hexaBB pattern in samples of Iceland was a mixture of the pattern determined in samples from North America and continental Europe. In samples from the European continent, the major congener in technical hexabromobiphenyl, PBB 153, accounted for 11-37% of the hexaBBs. Other prominent isomers were PBB 155 (7.1-64%) and PBB 154 (11-33%), followed by PBB 133 as well as PBB 132 and/or PBB 146. Most of these PBBs were determined for the first time in marine biota and must be metabolites of higher brominated PBBs since they were not present in any technical product. PBB 153 was dominant in blubber of marine mammals from North America (92-96%). Blubber of harbour porpoises and also seal milk showed more peaks, which is indicative of a lower capability of biotransforming PBBs. It is concluded from this and other studies that PBB residues in North America are mainly originating from technical hexabromobiphenyl, while the bulk of the PBB residues in the European marine samples originated from technical octa- and decabromobiphenyl. Finally, it is evident from this study that a global ban of PBBs should not only be restricted to hexabromobiphenyls, but also needs to include higher brominated mixtures.
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