Aluminum dialkyl phosphinate flame retardants and their hydrolysates: analytical method and occurrence in soil and sediment samples from a manufacturing site - Liang Yong

Aluminum dialkyl phosphinates (ADPs) are emerging phosphorus flame retardants due to their superior characteristics, but their analytical method, and occurrence and fate in environments have never been reported. For the first time, we developed a method for the analysis of trace ADPs and their hydrolysates (dialkyl phosphinic acids, DPAs), and studied their occurrences and fates in soils and sediments. We found that ADPs are hardly dissolved in water and organic solvents, but are dissolved and hydrolyzed to DPAs in 30 mM NH3·H2O, thus both ADPs and DPAs can be determined by liquid chromatography-electrospray ionization-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-MS/MS) in the form of DPAs. ADPs and DPAs in soil and sediment samples were determined by (i) extracting both ADPs and DPAs with 75 mM NH3·H2O, and selectively extract DPAs only with formic acid–water–methanol (5:5:90, v/v/v); (ii …