Environmental fate and effects of organophosphate flame retardants in the soil-plant system

Highlights

• Mechanisms of soil sorption and plant uptake of OPFRs were measured.

• Humid acids contribute to electrostatic interaction, hydrogen bonding, etc.

• Hydrolysis is an important transformation behavior of OPFRs in the soil-plant system.

• RCF showed no significant correlation with hydrophobicity of OPFRs in soil experiments.

Abstract

Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs), as a replacement for polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), are of increasing concern due to their high production over the years. Soil is the major environmental reservoir and interchange for OPFRs. OPFRs in soil could be transferred to the food chain, and pose potential ecological and human health risks. This review focused on the environmental fate and effects of typical OPFRs in the soil-plant system. We concluded that the sorption and transformation behaviors of OPFRs due to their crucial impact on bioavailability. The root uptake and translocation of OPFRs by plants were summarized with analyses of their potential affecting factors. The in planta transformation and potential ecological effects of OPFRs were also briefly discussed. Finally, we highlighted several research gaps and provided suggestions for future research, including the development of simulative/computative methods to evaluate the bioavailability of OPFRs, the effects of root exudates and rhizosphere microorganisms on the bioavailability and plant uptake of OPFRs, and the development of green and sustainable technologies for in situ remediation of OPFRs-contaminated soil.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

OPFRs / Bioavailability / Transformation / Uptake / Translocation

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

Financial support was provided by the Local Innovative and Research Teams Project of Guangdong Pearl River Talents Program (2017BT01Z134), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (32061133003 and 41603086), the Guangdong Foundation for Program of Science and Technology Research (2019B121205006), and Ten Thousand Talent Program of the Organization Department of the Central Committee of the CPC.

Author contributions

Qing Zhang: Investigation, Writing– Origianl Draft, Visualization. Weiping Mei: Investigation, Writing– Origianl Draft, Visualization. Longfei Jiang: Investigation, Writing– Review & Editing. Qian Zheng: Writing– Review & Editing. Chunling Luo: Conceptualization, Supervision, Writing– Review & Editing. Gan Zhang: Conceptualization, Supervision.<

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