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Surveying the Environmental PFAS Landscape
Citation:
McCord, J. AND M. Strynar. Surveying the Environmental PFAS Landscape. SETAC NA Focus Meeting: Environmental Risk Assessment of PFAS, Durham, NC, August 12 - 15, 2019.
Impact/Purpose:
The underlying research presented is the detection and identification of emerging PFAS materials in the United States. Such chemicals are of significant interest to EPA at and the general public due to their potential toxicological effects and persistent pollutant nature. The use of high resolution mass spectrometry data to identify potential targets for analysis is useful to state partners in their PFAS decision making efforts. This is an abstract submission is a slide presentation for a conference on environmental risk assessment of PFAS and emerging contaminants by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC). The abstract proposes a poster on analytical case studies in rapid exposure assessment and chemical mixture analysis with a focus on PFAS chemicals.
Description:
Per- and polyfluoro alkyl substances (PFAS) are environmentally persistent and high interest class of chemical pollutants with a rapidly expanding roster. As manufacturing processes evolve, the number of PFAS in use in commerce has exploded to thousands of analytes, and new and emerging analytical techniques are necessary to identify and monitor the most environmentally relevant chemical pollutants. High resolution mass spectrometry has been a workhorse technique supporting non-targeted approaches to sample analysis, compound discovery, and chemical characterization across a range of media and unique circumstances. The application of the EPA’s PFAS lists to HRMS screening has allowed rapid examination of unknown samples for the ever-expanding list of known PFAS chemicals. New chemical species continue to be uncovered and described using a combination of computational tools - formula and fragmentation prediction, homologous series screening (e.g. CF2, CF2O, etc.), and geographic/temporal feature correlation. Tentative assignment from the preponderance of chemical evidence (i.e. HRMS isotope/fragment information and spectral predictions) offers a methodology for PFAS analysis while the availability of authenticated, commercially available standards lags the diversity of known species. PFAS screening and discovery approaches have been applied to numerous industrial production/use sites for fluoropolymers and PFAS containing AFFFs throughout the United States and reveal a highly balkanized landscape of emerging PFAS chemicals. In contrast to the prior ubiquity of perfluorinated acids, emerging PFAS are structurally diverse, corresponding to their specialized applications. This poster details some general approaches for handling the complex chemical space of emerging environmental PFAS research.
