TY - CONF A1 - Leube, Peter A1 - Vogel, Christian A1 - Simon, Franz-Georg T1 - Quantification of ultrashort per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in water samples via headspace gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) - a method development N2 - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) were classified as a group of highly concerning chemicals over the last decades. Because of the high persistence of PFAS, their previous use led to contamination of the environment and human population. Due to ongoing use and incomplete remediation or destruction methods, the PFAS background in the environment is growing continuously. The presence of ultrashort PFAS (with ≤3 carbon atoms) in the environment is often overlooked despite their contributions to PFAS levels. These compounds may directly contaminate the environment and arise from degradation of polyfluorinated compounds as well as incomplete PFAS destruction in certain industrial processes. Nonetheless, few approaches for targeted analysis of ultrashort PFASs have been developed, except for trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Beside liquid (LC-MS/MS), supercritical fluid (SFC-MS/MS), and ion chromatography (IC-MS)-based systems, gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) is a promising method for detection and quantification of ultrashort PFAS. The goal of this study was to develop a simple headspace GC-MS method for the quantification of ultrashort perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) and polyfluorinated alcohols (PFOHs) in water samples. In contrast to PFOHs, functionalization of PFCAs was required for quantification. This was done by esterification with methanol at 80 °C, which can be carried out directly in the headspace GC-MS system. Moreover, several parameters were optimized to achieve a low limit of quantification (LOQ) for the analytes used: i) The ratio of the aqueous solution, methanol, and available gas phase within the analysis vessel, ii) the concentration of additional acid in esterification mixtures of PFCAs, iii) shaking frequency and iv) shaking time before analysis. After optimizing the procedure, we were able to quantify ultrashort PFCAs and PFOHs. Thus, our developed headspace GC-MS method has the potential to be used as an alternative target analysis for ultrashort-chain PFCAs and PFOHs in various water samples (groundwater, wastewater). T2 - SETAC Europe 34th Annual Meeting CY - Seville, Spain DA - 05.05.2024 KW - Ultrashort PFAS KW - Headspace GC-MS KW - Perfluorocarboxylic acid (PFCA) KW - Polyfluorinated alcohol (PFOH) PY - 2024 AN - OPUS4-60042 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -