Targeted Quantitation of Legacy and Emerging Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) in Water Matrices

Instrumentation Focus: LCMS
Oral Presentation

Presented by T. Anumol
Prepared by L. New1, T. Anumol2, R. Garnica2, F. Mavandadi3, C. Gan1
1 - Agilent Technologies Singapore (Sales) Pte Ltd, 1 Yishun Avenue 7, Singapore, Singapore, 768923, Singapore
2 - Agilent Technologies, Inc., 2850 Centerville Rd, Wilmington, DE, 19808, United States
3 - Agilent Technologies, Inc., 5301 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA, 95051, United States


Contact Information: [email protected]; +65-62158281

ABSTRACT

Per and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals widely used in consumer products and industry due to their unique and desirable chemical properties. Due to widespread usage and environmental persistence, legacy PFAS are ubiquitous in the environment and new fluorochemicals are being found in the environment frequently. Currently, there are disparate standard methods such as USEPA 533 and 537 for drinking water; and USEPA 8327, ASTM 7979 and ISO methods for non-potable waters. Furthermore, the rapidly evolving and diverse regulatory initiatives across various regions and countries have made it more challenging for laboratories to keep up with these changes while trying to develop comprehensive analytical methods for analysis in different types of matrices. Herein, a curated MRM database with optimized MS parameters was first developed for the robust, reproducible analysis of > 70 legacy and emerging PFAS; and > 30 labelled PFAS analogues. A solid phase extraction (SPE) was optimized for the extraction of these compounds in aqueous matrices such as drinking water and surface water. Compound separation was achieved on 1290 Infinity II LC System fitted with a PFC-Free HPLC Conversion Kit and analyzed with Agilent 6470 QQQ. A short, in-house, verification study was performed to demonstrate that the developed method was appropriate for the analysis of PFAS in the selected water matrices with regard to sensitivity, precision, and recovery.