Patent ID: 7271388

Claim:
A method for identifying brominated flame retardants in a polymer sample, comprising: a) obtaining an infrared spectrometry scan of the polymer sample; b) using a first set of parameters, comparing the obtained infrared spectrometry scan to scans in a first database stored on a computer readable medium, and calculating a first hit score; c) using the first hit score, selecting a second database (n) stored on a computer readable medium and a parameter set (n) , where n is an index; d) using the selected parameter set (n) , comparing the obtained infrared spectrometry scan to scans in the selected database (n) , and calculating a second hit score; e) using the second hit score, making a preliminary identification of the brominated flame retardant; f) based on the preliminary identification, selecting a parameter set (k) where k is an index not equal to n; g) using the selected parameter set (k) , comparing the obtained infrared spectrometry scan to scans in the selected database (n) , and calculating a third hit score; and h) based on the third hit score, confirming the identity of the brominated flame retardant in the polymer sample.