Lab incubation trials (in the dark) used coastal sediment and sea water collected from the Mediterranean (near the outlet of Marseille’s sewage works) spiked with seven organo-phosphorus esters (list below) to c. 180 ng/g.dw for each of the OPEs. Ambient levels of the OPEs in the sediment before spiking were 1 – 85 ng/g.dw. For the different OPEs, half-lives varied from 3 to 11 weeks in abiotic conditions (sterilised at 120°C) and 2 to 6 weeks in biotic conditions. The OPEs slowest to degrade were TEHP and EHDPP.
OPEs tested: TiBP: tri-iso-butyl phosphate (CAS: 126-71-6)
TnBP: tri-n-butyl phosphate (CAS: 126-73-8)
TCEP: tris-(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (CAS: 115-96-8)
TCPP: tris-(2-chloro, 1-methylethyl) phosphate (CAS: 13674-84-5)
TPhP: triphenyl phosphate – (CAS: 115-86-6)
EHDP: 2- ethylhexyl-diphenyl phosphate (CAS: 1241–94-7)
TEHP; tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (CAS: 78-42-2)
“Effective degradation of organophosphate ester flame retardants and plasticizers in coastal sediments under high urban pressure”, J. Castro‑Jiménez et al., Nature Scientific Reports (2022) 12:20228 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24685-6