Analysis of Perfluorooctanesulfonic Acid (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA) in Tap Water Using a Triple Quadrupole LC/MS/MS

Introduction

Perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), organic fluorine compounds, are known to persist in the environment and are bioaccumulative. PFOS, which was added to Annex B (restriction) of the “Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants” in 2009, has had restrictions placed on its production, use, import and export. Additionally, PFOA was also listed in Annex A (elimination) of the convention at the 9th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention with specific exemptions. Under the notification issued in March 2020 by the director of the Water Supply Division, Pharmaceutical Safety and Environmental Health Bureau, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (PSEHB/WSD Notification No. 0330-1 to -4), PFOS and PFOA, which had been designated as items for further study have, since April 2020, been added to complementary items with target values. This notification also specifies that 0.00005 mg/L (50 ng/L), which is the total acceptable concentration of these two compounds, has been adopted as the target value.This article introduces the results of analysis of the 1000- fold condensed tap water using a liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer, LCMS™-8050, in accordance with the analytical method for complementary items with target value (Target 31).

October 22, 2020 GMT