TY  - CONF
A1  - Vogel, Christian
T1  - Quantification of Perfluorocarboxylic Acids in Water Samples via Static Headspace Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry
N2  - Perfluorocarboxylic acids (PFCAs) are one of the most prominent and studied subgroups of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), which have attracted great interest in environmental and toxicology research due to their intensive use in combination with their persistence, mobility and potential threat to ecosystems and human health. 
The standard method to quantify PFCAs in water samples is liquid chromatography  or, for additional quantification of ultrashort-chain PFCAs (carbon chain length of two or three carbon atoms) too, hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography, in each case coupled with mass spectrometry. However, there are a lot of laboratories using MS coupled to headspace gas chromatography systems (HS-GC-MS), usually to quantify a wide range of volatile organic compounds. While PFCAs themselves are difficult to measure with HS-GC-MS in water samples, this challenge can be solved by derivatizing the acids to more volatile compounds, like esters. This approach could enable laboratories using HS-GC-MS to analyse and monitor PFCAs in environmental water samples.
By following this idea, we successfully developed a HS-GC-MS method to quantify PFCAs in ultrapure water. Trifluoric acid (TFA), perfluoropropionic acid (PFPrA), perfluorobutanoic acid (PFBA) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOS) served as exemplary analytes of PFCAs, which were derivatized with methanol and concentrated sulfuric acid to form methyl esters. The method was optimized by varying different preparation and measurement parameters, leading to limits of detection and quantification in the two-digit ppt-range for all four analytes. The method was than tested on various real water samples, including tap and bottled water, groundwater, landfill leachate, treated wastewater and impinger water from a sewage sludge incineration experiment. Furthermore, snow samples from a ski slope were analysed  too. TFA was the most frequently detected PFAA, with concentrations in the ppt and low ppb range. The detection and quantification of the remaining three PFCAs vary with the sample types and sampling location.Our results show that HS-GC-MS is suitable, and enables laboratories with this technique, to quantify PFCAs water samples.
T2  - SETAC Europe
CY  - Vienna, Austria
DA  - 11.05.2025
KW  - Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
KW  - Groundwater
KW  - GC-MS
PY  - 2025
AN  - OPUS4-63094
LA  - eng
AD  - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany
ER  -