Hexabromodiphenyl ether BDE

The mixture of deca-BDE is composed almost exclusively of deca-BDE (BDE-209), with a rate of 97% or more and by 3% or less of nonabromodiphenyl ethers (nona-BDEs) and octa-BDEs. On the contrary, the commercial octa-BDE mixture usually contains between 10% and 12% hexabromodiphenyl ethers (hexa-BDEs), 44% of heptabromodiphenyl ethers (hepta-BDEs), between 31% and 35% of octa-BDEs, between 10% and 11% of nona-BDEs and <1% of deca-BDE [4]. The two compounds with a higher proportion in this mixture are, in first place, BDE-183 (2,2, 3,4,4, 5, 6-hepta-BDE) and then the BDE-153 (2,2, 4,4, 5,5 -hexa-BDE). In addition, the penta-BDE mixture, commercially known as DE-71, is primarily composed by tetrabromodiphenyl ethers (tetra-BDEs) (24—38%), penta-BDEs (50-60%) and hexa-BDEs (4-8%) being BDE-99 (2,2, 4,4, 5-penta-BDE) and BDE-47 (2,2, 4,4 -tetra-BDE) the main compounds of the mixture. Figure 1 shows different structures belonging to the three PBDE mixtures described. 

BDE-154 is a component of the commercially available octa-BDE, which is a complex mixture consisting typically of 0.5% pentabromodiphenyl ether isomers, 12% hexabromodiphenyl ether isomers, -45% heptabromodiphenyl ether isomers, 33% octaBDE isomers, 10% nonabromodiphenyl ether isomers and 0.7% decabromodiphenyl ether. It is used as a flame retardant in plastics for electrical and electronic equipment. 

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