Fast and Accurate Analysis of Fluorotelomer Alcohols and Acrylates using Triple Quadrupole GC-MS/MS

Fluorotelomer-based polymers (FTPs) are utilised as oil and water repellents in consumer products. However, its extensive use in products such as textiles has raised environmental concerns, as residual fluorotelomer alcohols and acrylates (FTOHs and FTAs) from FTPs are considered as probable precursors of bioaccumulative and potentially toxic perflorocarboxylic acids.

Traditionally, the determination of FTOHs has been performed using single quadrupole GC-MS in chemical ionization (CI) mode. Although CI can achieve sensitive detection limits (less than 20 fg/ul for FTOHs), it is sometimes avoided due to higher upkeep and running cost than electron ionization (EI) systems. Furthermore, EI is a more comprehensive analytical solution than CI in applications. This motivated the use of GC-MS/MS system in EI mode in this study.