Brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in eggs from birds of prey from Southern Germany, 2014

Environ Pollut. 2017 Aug 24;231(Pt 1):569-577. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.047. [Epub ahead of print] Vetter W1, Gallistl C2, Schlienz A2, Preston T2, Müller J2, von der Trenck KT3. Author information 1 University of Hohenheim, Institute of Food Chemistry, Garbenstr. 28, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany. Electronic address: walter.vetter@uni-hohenheim.de. 2 University of Hohenheim, Institute of Food Chemistry, Garbenstr. 28, D-70599 Stuttgart, Germany. 3 Institute for the Environment, Measurements, and Nature Protection of the German State of Baden-Württemberg (LUBW), Griesbachstr. 1, D-76185 Karlsruhe, Germany. Abstract In Southern Germany, peregrine falcons (Falco peregrinus), which almost exclusively prey on other birds, are top predators of the terrestrial food chain. These animals accumulate persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and halogenated flame retardants (HFRs) with mothers transferring these lipophilic contaminants to their eggs. Here we analyzed unhatched eggs of eleven peregrine falcons and six of other species, and report concentrations of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), hexabromobenzene (HBB), 2,3-dibromopropyl-2,4,6-tribromophenyl ether (DPTE) and its metabolites, pentabromoethylbenzene (PBEB), pentabromotoluene (PBT), and tribromophenol (TBP). The extract of one purified peregrine falcon egg sample was comprehensively analyzed in a non-target (NT) approach by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry in the electron capture negative ion mode. A total of ∼400 polyhalogenated compounds were detected, among them dechloranes and possibly transformation products, two tetrabrominated metabolites of PBT and several compounds unknown to us which could not be identified. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. KEYWORDS: Bird eggs; Metabolites; Non-target analysis; Peregrine falcons; Polybrominated flame retardants PMID: 28843896 DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.047