Flame Retardants – Legacy and New Use Compounds
Flame retardants (FRs) are an important class of compounds added to many consumer goods, including electronics, furniture, and building materials to reduce flammability. There are several groups of FRs based on their chemical makeup, most notably those containing bromine, chlorine, phosphorus, nitrogen, metals, or boron. Brominated flame retardants have historically been the most abundantly used class, though many have been removed from the market due to environmental and exposure concerns, and newer use organophosphate or halogenated flame retardants have gained popularity as alternatives.
With the increased usage of alternative FRs, regulatory agencies have had to review potential risks to the environment and human exposure. Most recently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) added the organophosphate FRs tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate, tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl) phosphate, and tris(dimethylphenol) phosphate to the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements.1 The TRI serves as a way to track the management of toxic chemicals that may pose a threat to the environment and public health, and it will require facilities that meet reporting requirements for these FRs to report quantities released into the environment or otherwise managed as waste.
CIL has offered stable isotope-labeled and native standards for legacy brominated FRs for over 25 years and has expanded the FR product line to include newer use FRs as they emerge. With recent environmental and biomonitoring studies broadening their focus to include parent compounds as well as metabolites, CIL has been adding newer metabolite standards for more comprehensive environmental and human exposure analysis studies.
CIL recently completed production of an extensive range of dialkyl and diaryl phosphate flame retardants, which are the metabolites of phosphate triester compounds. Currently, CIL offers FR standards in the classes below. We encourage you to check out our flame retardant catalog or website for detailed product listings within these classes.
• Brominated Diphenyl Ethers (BDE)
• Dechloranes
• Hexabromocyclododecane
• Tetrabromobisphenol A
• Trialkyl and Triaryl Phosphate Esters
• Dialkyl and Diaryl Phosphate Esters - New!
• TTBP-TAZ
• Firemaster® 550
• Polybrominated Biphenyls (PBB)
• Hydroxybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (OH-BDE)
• Methoxybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (MeO-BDE)
References
1. https://www.epa.gov/chemicals-under-tsca/epa-proposes-rule-add-chemicals-toxics-release-inventory
