Investigating a Novel Flame Retardant Known as V6: Measurements in Baby Products, House Dust, and Car Dust

Abstract

With the phase-out of polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) flame retardants, the use of new and alternate flame retardants has been increasing. 2,2-bis(chloromethyl)propane-1,3-diyltetrakis(2-chloroethyl) bisphosphate, known as V6, is a flame retardant applied to polyurethane foam commonly found in furniture and automobile foam. However, to the authors’ knowledge, no research has been conducted on V6 levels in the environment. The intention of this study was to measure the concentration of V6 in foam collected from baby products where it was recently detected, and measure levels in dust samples collected from homes and automobiles in the Boston, MA area. To accomplish this a pure V6 commercial standard was purchased from a Chinese manufacturer and purified (> 98%). An analytical method to measure V6 in dust samples using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS-MS) was developed. Extraction was conducted using Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) and extracts were purified using an ENVI-Florisil SPE column (500 mg, 3mL). V6 was measured in foam samples collected from baby products with a concentration ranging from 24,500,000 to 59,500,000 ng/g of foam (n = 12, average ± sd: 46,500,000 ± 12,000,000 ng/g; i.e., on average, 4.6 % of the foam mass was V6). V6 was also detected in 19 of 20 car dust samples and 14 of 20 house dust samples analyzed. The concentration of V6 in the house dust ranged from < 5 ng/g to 1,110 ng/g with a median of 12.5 ng/g, and < 5 ng/g to 6,160 ng/g in the car dust with a median of 103.0 ng/g. Concentrations in car dust were significantly higher than the house dust, potentially indicating higher use of V6 in automobiles compared to products found in the home. Furthermore, tris (2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), a known carcinogen, was found in the V6 commercial mixture (14% by weight) as an impurity and was consistently detected with V6 in the foam samples analyzed. A significant correlation was also observed between V6 and TCEP in the dust samples, suggesting that the use of V6 is a significant source of TCEP in the indoor environment.

Determination of organophosphate flame retardants and plasticizers in lipid-rich matrices using dispersive solid-phase extraction as a sample cleanup step and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with atmospheric pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry

“…It has been suggested that if ESI(+) is used for quantification of OPEs, the standard addition procedure should be used [21]. APCI seems more suitable than ESI for this purpose because in APCI the main ionization process happens in gas phase, which largely reduces ion-suppression [12,22,31]. In the present method, with optimized APCI(+) operation parameters the ME values for the analytes in pork liver or chicken egg samples ranged from 40 to 94% (Table 3) and much improved compared to using the ESI source.…”

“…In addition to high concentration levels found in house dust samples, they have also been determined in municipal wastewater, surface and drinking water as well as human breast milk, fish and some other biota samples [3][4][5]9,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. OPEs elicit genotoxic and neurotoxic effects [18] and some chlorinated OPEs have log Kow values ranging from 1 to 5 indicating the potential to persist and bioaccumulate in the environment [1,3,19].…”

Predictors of urinary flame retardant concentration among pregnant women

“…nursing pillows). They are commonly added to flame retardant mixtures, such as Firemaster ® 550 (FM550), and to other consumer products as plasticizers (Ballesteros-Gomez et al 2014; Fang et al 2013; Patisaul et al 2013; Stapleton et al 2008; Stapleton et al 2009; Stapleton et al 2011). …”

Development of a low‐density‐solvent dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry method for the quantitation of tetrabromobisphenol‐A from dust

“…One complex matrix type of significant research interest for the study of flame retardants is dust . Dust is a sink for semi‐volatile compounds, including flame retardants and is easily collected from outdoors and indoor microenvironments of homes , offices , hotels , cars , day‐care centers and schools where it can be selectively sampled from furniture or electronics . Other research groups have sampled dust at production or recycling facilities given the high volume of consumer electronics being produced or recycled annually.…”