Physical-chemical properties for model input

The EQC model requires the input of the physical-chemical properties of each of the PBDEs to determine how they will behave. Generally, PBDEs have low vapor pressure and solubility, which makes measuring their physical-chemical properties rather difficult (Palm 2001). Some of the physical-chemical information was relatively straightforward to obtain and has little scope for error; for example, molar mass and melting points have been well documented with similar results arising each time. Other properties, however, such as the solubility, vapor pressure, and partition coefficients, have more variance in their recorded values. Physicochemical parameters for the PBDE congeners used here are supplied in Supplementary Information Tables 1–9.