Trends in bond dissociation energies of brominated flame retardants from density functional theory

Mechanistic and kinetic insights into the thermal degradation of decabromodiphenyl ethane

Decabromodiphenyl ethane (DBDPE), as one of the important new brominated flame retardants, is widely utilized in a variety of plastic products. However, the pyrolysis mechanism of DBDPE remains uncertain. In this article, the evolution behavior of the main products during the thermal decomposition of DBDPE is investigated using density functional theory at the theoretical level of M06-2X/6-311++G(2df,p)//M06-2X/6-311+G(d). The results show that the initial reaction starts with the cleavage of the ethane bridge bond, with an absorbed heat value of 298 kJ/mol, and the cleavage of the Caromatic-Br bond generates bromine radical, which is the main competitive reaction, with a heat absorption of 317 kJ/mol. The initial degradation of DBDPE generates a large number of pentabromobenzyl radicals and bromine radicals, which facilitate the secondary pyrolysis of DBDPE to a certain extent, resulting in the formation of possible products such as pentabromobenzyl bromide, pentabromobenzene, pentabromotoluene, hexabromobenzene, pentabromostyrene, and hydrogen bromide. In the pyrolysis system of DBDPE with hydrogen radicals, the reactions are classified into two types: extraction reaction and addition reaction. It can be known that the addition reaction plays a dominant role in the degradation process, with a branching ratio of 89.8% at 1600 K. The degradation of DBDPE with hydrogen radicals is mainly characterized by debromination, and the main products are hydrogen bromide, low-brominated diphenyl ethanes, brominated phenanthrenes, and brominated monoaromatic compounds. In addition, the lowest reaction energy barrier (18 kJ/mol) is required for the addition of hydrogen radical to the ipso-C site of DBDPE. DBDPE is dangerous for the environment and humans since its fate includes bioaccumulation, biomagnification, and toxicity via hormones and endocrine disruptors.

Computational Risk Assessment of Persistence, Bioaccumulation, and Toxicity of Novel Flame-Retardant Chemicals

Novel brominated flame retardants (NBFRs) have emerged as chemicals of environmental concern, as they have been widely used as an alternative to polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs). Considering the similar structural features of NBFRs and PBDEs necessitates a comprehensive investigation to understand the physicochemical relationships of these compounds and their ability to alter biological functions. In this study, we investigated the persistent nature of NBFRs in terms of thyroid-disrupting potential by understanding the structure-stability aspects using density functional theory (DFT)-based reactivity parameters and interactions via molecular docking and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The results indicate that the DFT-based stability descriptor (chemical hardness) is associated with the persistent nature of NBFRs. The computed molecular interaction profile revealed prominent interactions between thyroid receptor-β (TR-β) and NBFRs. Stable trajectory and interactions with TR-β were obtained with ATE, p-TBX, PBT, PBEB, and TBBPA-DBPE during 100 ns of MD simulation. The results of these studies have suggested that the presence of a higher number of halogenated atoms increases the stability vis-à-vis the persistence and endocrine disruption potential of NBFRs.

A mechanistic and kinetic investigation on the oxidative thermal decomposition of decabromodiphenyl ether

The thermal processes of materials containing decabromodiphenyl ether (BDE-209) normally result in the exposure of BDE-209 to high-temperature environments, generating a series of hazardous compounds. However, the evolution mechanisms of BDE-209 during oxidative thermal processes remain unclear. Thus, this paper presents a detailed investigation on the oxidative thermal decomposition mechanism of BDE-209 by utilizing density functional theory methods at the M06/cc-pVDZ theoretical level. The results show that the barrierless fission of the ether linkage dominates the initial degradation of BDE-209 at all temperatures, with branching ratio over 80%. The decomposition of BDE-209 in oxidative thermal processes is mainly along BDE-209 → pentabromophenyl and pentabromophenoxy radicals → pentabromocyclopentadienyl radicals → brominated aliphatic products. Additionally, the study results on the formation mechanisms of several hazardous pollutants indicate that the ortho-phenyl-type radicals created by ortho-C-Br bond fission (branching ratio reached 15.1% at 1600 K) can easily be converted into octabrominated dibenzo-p-dioxin and furan, which require overcoming the energy barriers of 99.0 and 48.2 kJ/mol, respectively. The O/ortho-C coupling of two pentabromophenoxy radicals also acts as a non-negligible pathway for the formation of octabrominated dibenzo-p-dioxin. The synthesis of octabromonaphthalene involves the self-condensation of pentabromocyclopentadienyl radicals, followed by an intricately intramolecular evolution. Results presented in this study can enhance our understanding of the transformation mechanism of BDE-209 in thermal processes, and offer an insight into controlling the emissions of hazardous pollutants.

Benchmark calculations for bond dissociation energies and enthalpy of formation of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Thermodynamic properties, i.e., bond dissociation energies and enthalpy of formation, of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons play a fundamental role in understanding their formation mechanisms and reactivity. Computational electronic structure calculations routinely used to predict thermodynamic properties of various species are limited for these compounds due to large computational cost to obtain accurate results by employing high-level wave function theory methods. In this work, a number of composite model chemistry methods (CBS-QB3, G3MP2, G3, and G4) are used to compute bond dissociation energies and enthalpies of formation of small to medium-size chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon compounds. The enthalpy of formation is derived via the atomization method and compared against the recommended values. Statistical analysis indicates that G4 is the best method. For comparison, three commonly used density functional theory (DFT) methods (M06-2X, ωB97X-D and B2PLYP-D3) with various basis sets including 6-311++G(d, p), cc-pVTZ, and cc-pVQZ in the prediction of bond dissociation energies and enthalpies of formation have been tested using the optimized geometries at the same M06-2X/6-311++G(d, p) level of theory. It is found that ωB97X-D/6-311++G(d, p) shows the best performance in computing the bond dissociation energies, while ωB97X-D/cc-pVTZ exhibits the best prediction in enthalpy of formation of the studied reaction systems. The structural effect on the bond dissociation energies and enthalpy of formation of chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are then systematically analyzed. Based on comparisons of the various methods, reliable DFT methods are recommended for future theoretical studies on large chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons considering both accuracy and computational cost. This work, to the authors' knowledge, is the first to systematically benchmark theoretical methods for the accurate prediction of thermodynamic properties for chlorinated and brominated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

Benchmark calculations using state-of-the-art DFT functionals and composite methods for bond dissociation energy and enthalpy of formation of halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are performed.