Chemische Charakterisierung und Spurenanalytik
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Per- und polyfluorierte Alkylverbindungen (PFAS) sind eine Substanzklasse bestehend aus mehreren tausenden Einzelverbindungen. Unter PFAS zählen alle Verbindungen, die mindestens eine perfluorierte Methyl- (-CF3) oder Methylen-Gruppe (-CF2-) besitzen. Somit zählt auch ein großer Teil der fluorierten Medikamente, Pflanzenschutzmittel oder Biozide in die PFAS-Substanzklasse. Aufgrund der Persistenz, Bioakkumulation in Nahrungsketten, Toxizität und der ubiquitären Verbreitung von PFAS zählen sie zu den „emerging pollutants“. Die PFAS-Analytik ist wegen ihrer vielfältigen physikalisch-chemischen Eigenschaften und der sehr hohen Anzahl an PFAS eine große Herausforderung. Da es für viele Anwendungen noch ungewiss ist, welche PFAS verwendet werden, wie sie in die Umwelt gelangen und welche Transformations- bzw. Abbauprodukte entstehen, stoßen analytische Ansätze, die nur auf Einzelsubstanzen abzielen, hier an ihre Grenzen. PFAS-Summenparameter-Methoden, die darauf abzielen ein möglichst vollständiges Abbild der PFAS-Belastungssituation widerzuspiegeln, werden daher immer wichtiger.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are widely used for durable water-repellent finishing of different fabrics and textiles like outdoor clothing, carpets, medical textiles and more. Existing PFAS extraction techniques followed by target analysis are often insufficient in detecting widely used side-chain fluorinated polymers (SFPs) that are barely or non-extractable. SFPs are typically copolymers consisting of a non-fluorinated backbone with perfluoroalkyl side-chains to obtain desired properties. We compared the accessible analytical information and performance of complementary techniques based on oxidation (dTOP assay, PhotoTOP), hydrolysis (THP assay), standard extraction, extractable organic fluorine (EOF), and total fluorine (TF) with five functional textiles and characterized 7 further textiles only by PhotoTOP oxidation. The results show that when applied directly to textile samples, oxidation by dTOP and PhotoTOP and also hydrolysis by the THP are able to capture large fractions of the TF in form of perfluoroalkyl side-chains present in the textiles while methods relying on extracts (EOF, target and non-target analysis) were much lower (e.g., factor ~25-50 lower). The conversion of large fractions of the measured TF into PFCAs or FTOHs from fluorinated side chains is in contrast to previous studies. Concentrations ranged from <LOQ to over ~1000 mg F/kg after oxidation/hydrolysis and <LOQ to over 2000 mg F/kg for TF, while EOF and target PFAS in extracts were detected at much lower concentrations (up to ~ 60 mg F/kg) (amount of fluorine in the order: extraction << EOF << oxidation/hydrolysis ≤ TF). Perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) and fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) from THP and PhotoTOP both represented the chain-length distribution in the textiles showing that long-chain SFPs are still used in current textiles. Further advantages and disadvantages of the applied methods are discussed.
Per- und polyfluorierte Alkylverbindungen (PFAS) sind eine Substanzklasse bestehend aus mehreren tausenden Einzelverbindungen. Unter PFAS zählen alle Verbindungen, die mindestens eine perfluorierte Methyl- (-CF3) oder Methylen-Gruppe (-CF2-) besitzen.[1] Somit zählt auch ein großer Teil der fluorierten Medikamente, Pflanzenschutzmittel oder Biozide in die PFAS-Substanzklasse. Aufgrund der Persistenz, Bioakkumulation in Nahrungsketten, Toxizität und der ubiquitären Verbreitung von PFAS zählen sie zu den „emerging pollutants“.[2] Die PFAS-Analytik ist wegen ihrer vielfältigen physikalisch-chemischen Eigenschaften und der sehr hohen Anzahl an PFAS eine große Herausforderung. Da es für viele Anwendungen noch ungewiss ist, welche PFAS verwendet werden, wie sie in die Umwelt gelangen und welche Transformations- bzw. Abbauprodukte entstehen, stoßen analytische Ansätze, die nur auf Einzelsubstanzen abzielen, hier an ihre Grenzen. PFAS-Summenparameter-Methoden, die darauf abzielen ein möglichst vollständiges Abbild der PFAS-Belastungssituation widerzuspiegeln, werden daher immer wichtiger.
HR-CS-GFMAS turned out to be a sensitive, fast and highly selective tool for fluorine determination. The method is based on the in situ formation of diatomic gallium-mono fluoride (GaF) at a temperature of 1550°C. GaF can be detected at 211.248 nm providing limits of quantificationin the low μg/L range. However, several species specific effects where observed when analyzing PFASs.
The combination of non-target analysis (NTA) based on HPLC-ESI-MS with elemental fluorine speciation analysis based on HPLC-PARCI-MS for the identification and quantification of (unknown) organofluorines in environmental samples is associated with several advantages e.g., reduced non-target data treatment workflow and quantification.
PFASs compromise persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic properties and are hence, environmental contaminants of emerging concern. Thus, procedures for identifying potential sources of the entrance of these compounds into the environment, identification of new organofluorine species, and closing mass balances need urgent development. The intrinsic fluorine tag appears in a sizable fraction of these and other xenobiotics, making elemental speciation desirable for quantitative NTA in these areas. Current non-target approaches based on ESI-HRMS suffer from a lack of data mining algorithms for identification of PFASs with low fluorine mass percentages. Furthermore, low ionization efficiencies of the compounds hamper detection limits.
Hence, the proposed combination of simultaneous HPLC-ESI-MS and HPLC-PARCI-MS via split-stream coupling is a promising approach for environmental PFAS monitoring. Furthermore, it could serve as an important analytical procedure to set up limiting values in compliance with the desired PFAS ban of the European Union.
With the continuous release of anthropogenic pollutants into the environment, substantial risks for the human health arise. Concerning are especially persistent substances (e.g., PFAS) as they accumulate in food chains which inevitably result in the transgression of negative impact threshold levels. Environmental Analytical Chemsitry interfaces all disciplines of Risk Assessment. Therefore it is the important tool to identify, monitor, and remediate environmental pollutants. Based on the example of PFAS, a workflow to tackle environmental pollutants in a retro- and pro-spective way is shown. Within the project, the worldwide situation of environmental pollutants will be illustrated for the example of PFAS. As the major discipline to confront the problem, analytical chemistry will be shown as a key tool for contesting PFAS and creating safe-by-design materials in the future.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of anthropogenic contaminates associated with persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic properties. Mostly, target-based approaches (e.g., LC-MS/MS) are utilized for the analysis of PFASs in the environment. Target approaches are limited to a few selected PFASs and therefore underestimate the total PFAS burden. Analytical approaches based on total fluorine for PFAS sum parameter analysis become increasingly important to indicate realistic PFAS pollution levels.
Recently high resolution-continuum source-graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) turned out to be a sensitive and highly selective tool for fluorine determination. The method is based on the in situ formation of diatomic gallium-mono fluoride (GaF) in a graphite furnace at a temperature of 1550°C. The molecular absorption of GaF can be detected at its most sensitive wavelength at 211.248 nm providing limits of quantification in the low µg F/L range. HR-CS-GFMAS analysis can be combined with the extractable organically bound fluorine (EOF) approach whereas PFASs are extracted from liquid or solid samples using organic solvents and/or solid phase extraction (SPE).
In this presentation the applicability of HR-CS-GFMAS for organic fluorine analysis in various environmental sample including (1) water samples, (2) soil samples and (3) plant samples is demonstrated.
(1) We investigated EOF concentrations in water bodies in Berlin, Germany and used additional PFAS target analysis for a PFAS mass balance approach. EOF concentrations were in the expected range for an urban river system. However, downstream of an effluent discharge, the EOF increased by one order of magnitude from 40 to 574 ng F/L. Target analysis determined mostly short-chained perfluorinated carboxylic acids and sulfonic acids, which however only made up less than 10% of the EOF. This study highlights that EOF screening using HR-CS-GFMAS is useful and advantageous compared to target analysis to identify pollution sites in urban water systems.
(2) For soil samples, we optimized a fast and simple PFAS extraction method for EOF determination. The developed extraction method consists of a liquid-solid extraction without any additional SPE for fluoride removal. We investigated different soil samples using the optimized method with and without an additional SPE clean-up step and revealed a drastic underestimation of EOF mass fractions using SPE. The optimized method is a valuable screening tool for fast PFAS monitoring.
(3) For plant samples, we conducted a study on the uptake and fate of PFASs in bean plants. For PFAS mass balancing HR-CS-GFMAS analysis was combined with LC-MS/MS analysis. PFASs were spiked as mixtures of known and unknown composition. Short-chained PFASs were determined with high mass fractions mainly in the fruits of the investigated plants while long-chained PFASs were mainly determined in roots. Overall, both methods indicate comparable results with target analysis being more reliable for known PFAS contamination and EOF/HR-CS-GFMAS analysis being more valuable to identify PFAS exposure of unknown composition.
In this study, we compare analytical methods for PFAS determination–target analysis, non-target screening (NTS), direct total oxidizable precursor assay (dTOPA) and extractable organically bound fluorine (EOF). Therefore, suspended particulate matter (SPM) samples from German rivers at different locations in time series from2005 to 2020 were analyzed to investigate temporal and spatially resolved trends. In this study 3 PFAS mass balances approaches were utilized: (i) PFAA target vs. PFAS dTOPA, (ii) PFAS target vs. EOF and (iii) PFAS target vs. PFAS dTOPA vs. organofluorines NTS vs. EOF. Mass balance approach (i) revealed high proportions of precursor substances in SPM samples. For the time resolved analysis an increase from 94% (2005) to 97% in 2019 was observable. Also for the spatial resolved analysis precursor proportions were high with >84% at all sampling sites. Mass balance approach (ii) showed that the unidentified EOF (uEOF) fraction increased over time from82% (2005) to 99% (2019). Furthermore, along the river courses the uEOF increased. In the combined mass balance approach (iii) using 4 different analytical approaches EOF fractions were further unraveled. The EOF pattern was fully explainable at the sampling sites at Saar and Elbe rivers. For the time resolved analysis, an increased proportion of the EOF was now explainable. However, still 27% of the EOF for the time resolved analysis and 25% of the EOF for the spatial resolved analysis remained unknown. Therefore, in a complementary approach, both the EOF and dTOPA reveal unknown gaps in the PFAS mass balance and are valuable contributions to PFAS risk assessment. Further research is needed to identify organofluorines summarized in the EOF parameter.
Introduction
Per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of over 4730 individual compounds. Several PFASs are extremely persistent, bioaccumulative and toxic. The analysis of PFASs is challenging because of their various chemical and physical properties as well as the high number of compounds. Target-based approaches (e.g., LC-MS/MS) are limited to the availability of analytical grade standards and are not suitable for the analysis of new/unknown PFASs and transformation products. Therefore, PFAS sum parameter methods become increasingly important to indicate realistic PFAS pollution levels.
Methods
For the instrumental analysis of such sum parameters, a fluorine selective detector is needed. In our study we used high resolution-continuum source-graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) which is a sensitive and highly selective tool for fluorine determination. The method is based on the in situ formation of diatomic gallium-mono fluoride (GaF) in a graphite furnace at a temperature of 1550°C. The molecular absorption of GaF can be detected at its most sensitive wavelength at 211.248 nm providing limits of quantification of c(F) 2.7 µg/L.
Results
Here, we present an improved method for the determination of PFASs using HR-CS-GFMAS via GaF detection. The optimized method includes a modifier pretreatment step using a mixture of Mg, Pd and Zr and a correction measurement using perfluorooctanoic acid. The combination of both resulted in increased accuracy and precision as well as overall lower detection limits. Furthermore, during optimization the influence of species-specific responses during HR-CS-GFMAS analysis was reduced resulting in a more accurate determination of PFAS sum parameters. To test the applicability of the improved method, we analysed soil samples from a former fire-fighting training area combining the improved method for detection with our previously optimized extraction method for extractable organically bound fluorine (EOF) determination in soils.
Innovative aspects
• Highly sensitive and selective method for fluorine/PFASs analysis based on HR-CS-GFMAS
• Increased accuracy for the determination of EOF
• Reduction of PFAS species-specific responses by optimized modifier conditions
Per- and polyfuoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are emerging organic pollutants and can occur in surface and groundwater. To identify the degree of pollution in surface water with PFAS, often targeted HPLC–ESI–MS/MS has been employed in which commonly 30–40 compounds are analyzed. However, other PFAS and organofuorines remain undetected. We sampled surface water of the river Spree and the Teltow Canal in Berlin, Germany, which are afected by the efuent discharge of wastewater treatment plants. Here, we employed high-resolution continuum source graphite furnace molecular absorption spectrometry (HR-CS-GFMAS) for measuring extractable organofuorines (EOF) and compared in a mass balance approach the total fuorine to the identifed and quantifed PFAS from the targeted analysis. The analysis highlights that the EOF are in the range expected for an urban river system (Winchell et al. in Sci Total Environ 774, 2021). However, downstream of an efuent discharge, the EOF increased by one order of magnitude, e.g., 40.3 to 574 ng F L−1, along the Teltow Canal. From our target analytes, mostly short-chained perfuorinated carboxylic acids and sulfonates occur in the water, which however makes up less than 10% of the EOF. The increase in EOF in the Teltow Canal correlates well with the increase of perfuorohexanoic acid (PFHxA), indicating that PFHxA is characteristic for the discharged EOF but not responsible for the increase. Hence, it points to PFHxA precursor discharge. The study highlights that EOF screening using HR-CS-GFMAS is necessary to identify the full scale of pollution with regard to PFAS and other organofuorines such as pharmaceutical compounds from the efuent of WWTPs.