Chlorinated and Brominated Organic Pollutants in Contaminated River Sediments

Sediments are the main abiotic reservoirs where POPs from different emission sources are accumulated. In the last few decades, a great deal of emphasis has been placed on evaluating the contamination of “classical” POPs such as PCBs, PCDDs and PCDFs. More recently, scientific interest has been focused on other groups of POPs, the so-called “emerging” POPs, such as PCAs and brominated POPs. These emerging POPs are of concern due to their toxicological properties, their capability to bioaccumulate and their widespread and unrestricted use. Knowledge of the environmental impact of these emerging POPs is based on previous analytical work that focused on the development of sensitive and selective methodologies. Herein, an overview of current analytical methods, including different sample preparation techniques as well as the different instrumental approaches, is presented. Finally, a review of the available data concerning the occurrence of chlorinated and brominated POPs in sediments is also reported. Conclusions and future perspectives are also outlined.