Markes International’s TD100-xr ™ thermal desorption instrument coupled to a gas chromatograph and a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer enables measurement of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in air at concentrations as low as 2 pg/m3 .
Concerns over the environmental effects of PFAS compounds have risen dramatically, and as a result, strategies are being developed by environment agencies to manage their levels in ambient air. PFAS are aliphatic compounds containing one or more carbon atoms on which all the hydrogens have been replaced by fluorine atoms. To date, the total number of PFAS compounds exceeds 6000.
As the PFAS group is so large, for convenience, it is split into families of compounds, one of which is a non-polymers group. The non-polymers are of most concern with respect to human health and the environment. Of these, the perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids/carboxylates (PFCAs) are considered the most dangerous; therefore, they are the most widely researched. Next are the neutral PFAS (n-PFAS), examples of which include fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs), fluorotelomer carboxylic acids (FTCAs) and perfluorooctanesulfonamides (FOSAs). In the environment, some n-PFAS (e.g., FTOHs) have been shown to undergo atmospheric oxidation and transform into PFCAs,1 making them equally important to understand and monitor. These facts have determined the compound classes targeted in this study.
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