The degradation characteristic of 4-bromdiphenyl ether （BDE-4） was investigated in different solutions.The study indicates that the process of direct degradation of this compound is dependent upon the bromine and the ether bond connected to diphenyl by electron beam.laser flash photolysis was employed to determine the degradation of each species （cationic,neutral,and anionic）.From these data,intermediate products of BDE-4 degradation were shown for direct irradiationdegradation.The neutral radical was formed during the photolysis of these compounds.For all the compounds,diphenyl ether and hydroxybiphenyl were observed as common products.Reaction of the BDE-4 under electron beam was debromide.The debromide rate of BDE-4 at pH=5.5 is somewhat lower than that of BDE-4 at pH=10.0.The decomposition rate for BDE-4 is 99.8% at pH=10.0 on the dose of 14 kGy.BDE-4 from its radical could provide bromine ion into water and the cation radical of BDE-4 formed quickly recombine with hydrogen radical and formed phenyl ether.
