Analysis of >50 Legacy and Emerging PFAS in Water Using the Agilent 6495B Triple Quadrupole LC/MS

Authors

Timothy L. Coggan, Jeff Shimeta, and Bradley O. Clarke RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia Tarun Anumol and James Pyke Agilent Technologies, Inc.

The contamination of the environment with per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) is a serious concern to regulators, scientists, and the public worldwide; due to their ubiquitous presence, persistence, and toxicity.^1-3 Robust analytical techniques that can accurately and precisely quantify these pollutants at trace levels are necessary for understanding their environmental fate, ecological impacts, and impacts on public health. Appropriate analytical techniques and the fundamental data they generate allow scientists and regulators to make informed assessments of PFAS use in modern society.

This Application Note describes a sensitive and reliable method for the simultaneous quantitation of 53 legacy and emerging PFAS from 14 compounds classes. The method uses isotope dilution on an Agilent 1290 Infinity II LC coupled to an Agilent 6495B triple quadrupole LC/MS.⁴

Introduction

PFAS are a diverse family of fluorinated synthetic chemicals used as surfactants and polymers for a wide variety of industrial and commercial applications since the 1950s.^5,6 The most common applications include aqueous-film firefighting foams (AFFFs), textile protection surface coating for cooking implements, and food contact paper.^7,8 For many years, PFAS were thought to be inert and nontoxic, and therefore were widely used with little thought for environmental dispersal or ecological impact. It was not until 2001 that the extent of PFAS global contamination was first demonstrated for perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS; C₈ F₁₇SO₃ H)³ and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; C₇ H₁₅COOH). Since then, PFAS have been detected in almost every wildlife sample measured⁹ , ubiquitously in humans throughout the world¹⁰, and most environmental compartments, including pristine locations¹¹. The list of known PFAS has expanded to over 4,800 compounds, some of which will transform to the problematic perfluorosulfonic acids (PFSAs) and perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) in the environment¹².

>> Download the Full Application Note as a PDF

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