Power density modulated ultrasonic degradation of perfluoroalkyl substances with and without sparging Argon

The power density modulates the dynamics of the chemical reactions during the ultrasonic breakdown of organic compounds. We evaluated the ultrasonic degradation of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) at various power densities (30 W/L–262 W/L) with and without sparging Argon. We observed pseudo-first-order degradation kinetics at an initial PFASs concentration of 100 nM over a range of power density. The rate kinetics of degradation shows a non-linear increase with an increase in power density. We proposed a four-parameter logistic regression (4PLR) equation that empirically fits the degradation rate kinetics with the power density. The 4PLR equation predicts that the maximum achievable half-life of PFOA and PFOS sonochemical degradation are 1 and 10 min under a given set of experimental conditions. The high bulk-water temperature (i.e., 30 °C) of the aqueous sample helps increase the degradation rate of PFOA and PFOS. The addition of oxidants such as iodate and chlorate help enhance PFOA degradation in an argon environment at an ultrasonic frequency of 575 kHz.     

Analytical chemistry of the persistent organic pollutants identified in the Stockholm Convention: A review

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are major environmental concern due to their persistence, long-range transportability, bio-accumulation and potentially adverse effects on living organisms. Analytical chemistry plays an essential role in the measurement of POPs and provides important information on their distribution and environmental transformations. Much effort has been devoted during the last two decades to the development of faster, safer, more reliable and more sensitive analytical techniques for these pollutants. Since the Stockholm Convention (SC) on POPs was adopted 12 years ago, analytical methods have been extensively developed. This review article introduces recent analytical techniques and applications for the determination of POPs in environmental and biota samples, and summarizes the extraction, separation and instrumental analyses of the halogenated POPs. Also, this review covers important aspects for the analyses of SC POPs (e.g. lipid determination and quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)), and finally discusses future trends for improving the POPs analyses and for potential new POPs.     

Non-covalent Interaction of Perfluorooctanoic Acid with DNA

Health risk from exposure of perfluorochemicals to wildlife and human has been a subject of concern in many fields such as environmental ecology, toxicology, pathology and life sciences. The interactions of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) with DNA were investigated by equilibrium dialysis, circular dichroism and isothermal titration calorimetry techniques under normal physiological conditions in vitro. The binding of PFOA to DNA was a non‐covalent interaction and corresponded to the Langmuir adsorption isotherm in a two‐step binding model, in which PFOA climbed along the backbones of DNA and then interacted with the homolateral bases via hydrophobic interactions. The saturation number of PFOA was calculated to be 0.64 per base‐pair of DNA. Such an interaction caused the enhancement of circular dichroism spectra of DNA at both 245 and 275 nm, indicating the change of DNA conformation. The acidic media, low electrolyte and temperature ≦35°C are comparatively more favorable for PFOA binding to DNA. This work provides a useful experimental strategy for studying the interactions of perfluorochemicals with biomacromolecules, aiming at a better understanding of the gene toxicity mechanism of perfluorochemicals.     

Analysis of perfluorinated chemicals in sludge: Method development and initial results

A fast, rigorous method was developed to maximize the extraction efficacy for ten perfluorocarboxylic acids and perfluorooctanesulfonate from waste-water-treatment sludge and to quantitate using liquid chromatography, tandem-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). First, organic solvents were tested for extraction efficiency, including acetonitrile (ACN), methanol (MeOH), isopropanol (IPA), tetrahydrofuran (THF), and 50/50 ACN/MeOH (v/v). Among the extractants tested, 50/50 ACN/MeOH yielded the best results for our combined criteria of extraction efficacy and solvent-handling convenience. Second, chemical pretreatment prior to solvent extraction was tested with sodium hydroxide (NaOH), potassium hydroxide (KOH), hydrochloric acid (HCl), and potassium persulfate (K₂S₂O₈). Pretreatment with NaOH and HCl effectively recovered additional PFCs from the sludge, but KOH and K₂S₂O₈ digestion were less effective than no pretreatment. Third, cleanup methods were investigated with solid-phase extraction using HLB (hydrophilic–lipophilic balanced) and WAX (weak-anion exchange) stationary phases, and with ion-pairing. The HLB stationary phase yielded a slight edge over the other two cleanup strategies in terms of recoverable PFCs and chromatographic separation. Finally, the appropriateness of isotopically labeled PFCs for quantitating unlabeled PFCs using isotopic dilution in complex sludge extracts was evaluated by comparison to results obtained with the standard-addition method. A National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) domestic sludge (CRM 2781) was analyzed using our finalized method and compared with previously reported results.     

Original fluorinated surfactants potentially non-bioaccumulable

This minireview updates non-exhaustive recent strategies of synthesis of original fluorosurfactants potentially non-bioaccumulable. Various strategies have been focused on (i) the preparation of CF₃–X–(CH₂)_n–SO₃Na (with X = O, C₆H₄O or N(CF₃) and n = 8–12), (ii) the oligomerization of hexafluoropropylene oxide (HFPO) to further synthesize oligo(HFPO)–CF(CF₃)CO–R_H (where R_H stands for an hydrophilic chain); (iii) the telomerization of vinylidene fluoride (VDF) with 1-iodopentafluoroethane or 1-iodononafluorobutane to produce C_nF_2n+1–(VDF)₂–CH₂CO₂R (n = 2 or 4, R = H or NH₄), (iv) the radical telomerization of 3,3,3-trifluoropropene (TFP) with isoperfluoropropyliodide or diethyl hydrogenophosphonate to prepare (CF₃)₂CF(TFP)_x–R_H or CF₃–CH₂–CH₂–(TFP)_y–P(O)(OH)₂, and (v) the radical cotelomerization of VDF and TFP, or their controlled radical copolymerization in the presence of (CF₃)₂CFI or a fluorinated xanthate. In most cases, the surface tensions versus the surfactant concentrations have been assessed. These above strategies led to various highly fluorinated (but yet not perfluorinated) telomers whose chemical changes enabled to obtain original surfactants as novel alternatives to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), ammonium perfluorooctanoate (APFO), or perfluorooctylsulfonic acid (PFOS) regarded as bioaccumulable, persistent, and toxic.     

液相色谱-串联质谱法同时测定婴幼儿配方乳粉中全氟辛酸、全氟辛烷磺酸、双酚A和壬基酚残留

建立了婴幼儿配方乳粉中全氟辛酸、全氟辛烷磺酸、双酚A和壬基酚多残留的高效液相色谱-串联四极杆质谱联用测定方法。样品用水超声溶解,乙腈沉淀蛋白质,液相色谱-串联质谱测定,基质内标法定量。以Hypersil GOLD C₁₈色谱柱（50 mm×4.6 mm,1.9 μm）分离,流动相为30 mmol/L乙酸铵水溶液和甲醇,流速0.30 mL/min。在该优化条件下,全氟辛酸、全氟辛烷磺酸、双酚A和壬基酚的定量限分别为0.5、1.0、10.0和5.0 μg/kg,方法回收率为86.1%~106.8%,相对标准偏差为2.87%~9.53%。测定了多种市售婴幼儿配方奶粉,表明该方法操作简单、测定结果准确,可用于婴幼儿配方奶粉中全氟辛酸、全氟辛烷磺酸、双酚A和壬基酚多残留的同时快速测定。     

Determination of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid in human plasma by large volume injection capillary column switching liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Rapid, selective, and sensitive methodology for the quantification of perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) in human plasma using packed capillary liquid chromatography coupled to electrospray ionization ion-trap mass spectrometry has been developed. Plasma proteins were precipitated using acetonitrile and the resulting supernatant was diluted 1+1 with water containing 10 mM ammonium acetate (NH4Ac) prior to injection. Sample volumes of 250 microL were loaded onto a 30 mm x 0.32 mm ID 10 microm Kromasil C18 precolumn by a carrier solution consisting of 10 mM NH4Ac in ACN/H2O (5/95, v/v) at a flow rate of 100 microL/min, providing on-line analyte enrichment and sample clean-up. Backflushed elution onto a 100 mm x 0.32 mm ID 3.5 microm Kromasil C18 analytical column was conducted using an ACN/H2O solvent gradient containing 10 mM NH4Ac. In order to improve the robustness and performance of the method, perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHA) was used as internal standard. Separation and detection of PFOA, PFHA, and PFOS were achieved within 10 minutes. Ionization was performed in the negative mode in the m/z range 250-550. The method was validated over the concentration range 1-200 ng/mL for PFOA and over the range 5-200 ng/mL untreated plasma for PFOS, yielding correlation coefficients of 0.997 (PFOA) and 0.996 (PFOS), respectively. The within-assay (n = 6) and between-assay (n = 6) precisions were in the range 2.1-9.2 and 5.6-12%, respectively. The concentration limits of detection (cLOD) of PFOA was 0.5 ng/mL while the cLOD of PFOS was estimated to be 0.2 ng/mL in untreated plasma.     

Electrochemical Studies on Self‐assembled Monolayer (SAM) Upon Exposure to Anionic Surfactants: PFOA,PFOS, SDS and SDBS

We investigate the interaction between anionic surfactants (AS) and a self‐assembled monolayer (SAM) using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectrum (EIS) and electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM). The AS include two common fluorosurfactants, which have been previously formulated in aqueous film‐forming foam (AFFF): perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and two common detergents: sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS). The AS can re‐configure the SAM arrangement, particularly on nanoporous gold surface due to the high density of defects and pinholes of SAM, which results in changes to the electrochemical redox kinetics and interface capacitance of the SAM. Based on the experimental results, we hypothesis that AS insert and dope the pristine monolayer, which is evidenced with EQCM and EIS.     

物化作用氧化降解PFOA/PFOS

全氟辛/磺酸（PFOX）具有环境持久、耐氧化、抗常规化学处理的特点。目前,针对PFOX的有效去除工艺研究已成为环境技术领域有机污染物降解方向的新热点。近年来,一些强氧化工艺被开发用于降解PFOX,主要通过各种物理作用增强化学氧化能力,实现PFOX的有效降解。本文综述了纯化学过程以及光、电、热、声、等离子体、微波、机械力等物理作用促进化学氧化降解PFOX的反应机理、降解途径和各因素的影响机制,以及去除效率和能耗等,介绍了该方向的最新研究进展,讨论分析了这些技术存在的问题,并提出了今后技术应用的重点研究方向。     

含CF3CF2CF2C(CF3)2基团支链型氟表面活性剂的合成及性能研究

全氟辛酸/全氟辛基磺酸(PFOA/PFOS)类氟表面活性剂因不易被生物降解且对环境有毒害作用, 被列为持久性有机污染物. 采用引入氟碳支链的策略作为PFOA/PFOS替代物的研发取向, 以六氟丙烯二聚体为原料合成了新型阳离子型、两性型、双子型和非离子型氟表面活性剂, 并对它们的表面活性和急性毒性性能进行了测试. 结果表明, 所合成的支链型表面活性剂表面活性高且毒性低. 因此, 基于六氟丙烯二聚体(HFPD)合成PFOS/PFOA替代物是一种简单、经济且环保的方法.