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Determination of perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic acids (PFECAs) and sulfonic acids (PFESAs) in North Carolina surface water using high resolution mass spectrometry
Citation:
Strynar, M., R. McMahen, S. Liang, S. Dagnino, A. Lindstrom, E. Andersen, L. McMillan, M. Thurman, I. Ferrer, AND C. Ball. Determination of perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic acids (PFECAs) and sulfonic acids (PFESAs) in North Carolina surface water using high resolution mass spectrometry. SETAC, Vancouver, BC, CANADA, November 09 - 13, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Human Exposure and Atmospheric Sciences Division (HEASD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. HEASD research program supports Goal 1 (Clean Air) and Goal 4 (Healthy People) of EPA strategic plan. More specifically, our division conducts research to characterize the movement of pollutants from the source to contact with humans. Our multidisciplinary research program produces Methods, Measurements, and Models to identify relationships between and characterize processes that link source emissions, environmental concentrations, human exposures, and target-tissue dose. The impact of these tools is improved regulatory programs and policies for EPA.
Description:
Many per- and polyfluorinated compounds have been shown to be globally distributed with some also having the additional undesirable properties of persistence, bioaccumulation, and toxicity. To address these concerns, many industrial manufacturers have moved away from their traditional C8-based chemistries (e.g., PFOS and PFOA) in favor of shorter chain and polyfluorinated compounds, which are thought by some to have a lower potential for bioaccumulation and reduced environmental persistence. The use of these replacement chemistries provide a challenge for environmental scientists that need to develop techniques to identify these new structures in environmental media. High resolution mass spectrometry is an ideal analytical tool that can be used to help identify these new formulations. We have previously used LC-TOFMS to identify the presence of a novel perfluorinated ether linked carboxylic acid (C6HF11O3) and a related series of homologous compounds in the Cape Fear River Basin in North Carolina. Our current work builds upon these original findings and leads to a systematic investigative process that is based on exact mass determination, identification of homologous series, and in-source adduct formation of metal bound dimers/trimers to identify previously undescribed per- and polyfluorinated compounds in environmental samples via TOFMS. Discussion will include the use of additional tools such as negative mass defect and Kenndrick Mass defect plots for identification. Evidence for the presence of additional novel perfluoroalkyl ether carboxylic (PFECAs) and sulfonic acids (PFESAs) in surface water will be shown