Immunochemical analysis of 2,4,6-tribromophenol for assessment of wood contamination

2,4,6-Tribromophenol (2,4,6-TBP) has been used as a wood preservative and flame retardant and is a synthetic intermediate of the most important brominated flame retardants (BFR) produced. The use of TBP-contaminated wood materials in the food industry poses a risk of significant economical losses due to food contamination. In this work an efficient and reliable immunochemical method for analysis of TBP in wood samples has been established consisting of alkaline wood extraction followed by analysis on a microplate ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). TBP is efficiently extracted from wood samples in 10 min and directly measured after 10-fold buffer dilution to avoid matrix interferences. The analytical procedure has a limit of detection of 45 ng g (-1) of TBP in wood (1.5 microg L (-1) in extracts). The method has been applied to the analysis of contaminated real wood samples, showing that the levels of contamination can reach high TBP concentrations (up to 2000 microg L (-1)). An excellent correlation was observed between TBP levels in wood extracts determined by ELISA and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis ( R (2) = 0.990, N = 19). The precision found is below 22% CV. The immunoanalytical method developed is fast, reliable, and cost-effective, shows good high-throughput screening capabilities, and can be an excellent tool for assessment of wood contamination at lumber mills or related industries. The TBP ELISA has the potential to be used for environmental, food, and biological monitoring of brominated phenolic compounds considered nowadays as emerging pollutants.