While vapor pressure
is among the most important properties used
in the environmental fate assessment of organic contaminants, measured
vapor pressures exist only for a few representatives of the group
of novel brominated flame retardants (BFRs). To expand on this limited
set of data, the vapor pressures of five BFRs1,2,4,5,-tetrabromo-dimethylbenzene
(TBX), 1,2,3,4,5-pentabromo-6-methyl-benzene (PBT), 1,2,3,4,5-pentabromo-6-ethyl-benzene
(PBEB), 2,3,4,5,6-pentabromo-phenol (PBP), and 1,3,5-tribromo-2(2,3-dibromopropoxy)-benzene
(TBP-DBPE)were measured in the temperature range 322.7–367.7
K with the gas saturation method. Enthalpies of sublimation or vaporization
were determined from the slopes of semilogarithmic plots of measured
vapor pressure against reciprocal temperature. The melting temperature
and enthalpy of fusion were measured using differential scanning calorimetry.
From these experimental data, the vapor pressures and subcooled liquid
vapor pressures at 298.2 K, p
i
° and p
i
°,sl, respectively, were derived and compared with values
estimated using group contribution methods, polyparameter linear free
energy relationships, as well as EPISuite, SPARC, and COSMOtherm.
Depending on the method and compound, deviations between measured
and estimated log(p
i
°)
or log(p
i
°,sl) values ranged from 8 to 77% of the measured values. The gas/particle
partitioning behavior of the five BFRs was estimated using the measured p
i
°,sl values
and the Junge–Pankow model. This estimation could account for
the observed partitioning behavior of PBT and TBP-DBPE.