Generation and characterization of transformation products of current-use brominated flame retardants

Decabromodiphenyl ethane, hexabromobenzene, pentabromotoluene and pentabromoethylbenzene are current-use brominated flame retardants. The use of first-generation brominated flame retardants has already been restricted or banned due to detected environmental and health risks. The more important is gaining knowledge on these current-use brominated flame retardants which was conducted within this doctoral thesis. UV irradiation of these compounds gave interesting insights in their transformation pathway and formed transformation products which will help in evaluation of their possible toxicity and fate in future. The methods described in here can also be transferred to gain deeper knowledge of further polyhalogenated compounds.