Direct Analysis of PFOS and PFOA in Tap Water Using Triple Quadrupole LC/MS/MS

User Benefits

- Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) can be analyzed without concentration. - It is possible to analyze concentrations of less than 1/10 of the target value (50 ng/L) specified in the Complementary Items to Set the Targets for Water Quality Management. - PFOS and PFOA in tap water can be analyzed with good recovery rate.

Introduction

Perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are organofluorine compounds which are chemically stable, and there are concerns about health hazards due to their persistence in the body. For this reason, the production of these substances is restricted internationally by the Stockholm Convention.(1), (2) For water supply in Japan, the sum of the amounts of these two components, PFOS and PFOA, was set to 0.00005 mg/L (50 ng/L) as the target value (provisional) for the Complementary Items to Set the Targets for Water Quality Management.(3) Whereas Application News C224 introduced 1000-fold concentration with solid-phase extraction as a pretreatment process, this article introduces the analysis results obtained by directly injecting tap water without concentration, using the LCMS8060NX liquid chromatograph mass spectrometer. The results showed that good spike recovery rates were obtained for both components at concentrations 1/10 of the target value, confirming that accurate analysis is possible.

April 30, 2021 GMT