Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances in the Environment: Terminology, Classification, and Origins

The primary aim of this article is to provide an overview of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) detected in the environment, wildlife, and humans, and recommend clear, specific, and descriptive terminology, names, and acronyms for PFASs. The overarching objective is to unify and harmonize communication on PFASs by offering terminology for use by the global scientific, regulatory, and industrial communities. A particular emphasis is placed on long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, substances related to the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, and substances intended as alternatives to the use of the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids or their precursors. First, we define PFASs, classify them into various families, and recommend a pragmatic set of common names and acronyms for both the families and their individual members. Terminology related to fluorinated polymers is an important aspect of our classification. Second, we provide a brief description of the 2 main production processes, electrochemical fluorination and telomerization, used for introducing perfluoroalkyl moieties into organic compounds, and we specify the types of byproducts (isomers and homologues) likely to arise in these processes. Third, we show how the principal families of PFASs are interrelated as industrial, environmental, or metabolic precursors or transformation products of one another. We pay particular attention to those PFASs that have the potential to be converted, by abiotic or biotic environmental processes or by human metabolism, into long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic or sulfonic acids, which are currently the focus of regulatory action. The Supplemental Data lists 42 families and subfamilies of PFASs and 268 selected individual compounds, providing recommended names and acronyms, and structural formulas, as well as Chemical Abstracts Service registry numbers. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:513–541. © 2011 SETA

Application of a comprehensive extraction technique for the determination of poly- and perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in Great Lakes Region sediments.

A comprehensive method to extract perfluoroalkane sulfonic acids (PFSAs), perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), polyfluoroalkyl phosphoric acid diesters (diPAPs), perfluoroalkyl phosphinic acids (PFPiAs) and perfluoroalkyl phosphonic acids (PFPAs) from sediment and analysis by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) was developed and applied to sediment cores from three small isolated lakes (Plastic Lake, Lake 442, Lake Tettegouche) and Lake Ontario in the Great Lakes Region. Recoveries of the target compounds using the optimized acetonitrile/sodium hydroxide extraction ranged from 73% to 120%. The greatest concentrations of per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFASs) were recorded in sediment from Lake Ontario (ΣPFASs 13.1 ng/g), where perfluorooctane sulfonic acid (PFOS) contributed over 80% of the total. Concentrations in Lake Ontario were approximately 1-2 orders of magnitude greater than the more remote lakes subject to primarily atmospheric inputs. Whilst the PFAS contribution in Lake Ontario was dominated by PFOS, the more remote lakes contained sediment with higher proportions of PFCAs. Trace amounts of emerging PFASs (diPAPs and PFPiAs) were found in very recent surface Lake Ontario and remote lake sediments

Significant Residual Fluoroalcohols Present in Various Fluorinated Materials

Polyfluorinated telomer alcohols and sulfonamides are classes of compounds recently identified as precursor molecules to the perfluorinated acids detected in the environment. Despite the detection and quantification of these volatile compounds in the atmosphere, their sources remain unknown. Both classes of compounds are used in the synthesis of various fluorosurfactants and incorporated in polymeric materials used extensively in the carpet, textile, and paper industries. This study has identified the presence of residual unbound fluoro telomer alcohols (FTOHs) in varying chain lengths (C6−C14) in several commercially available and industrially applied polymeric and surfactant materials. NMeFOSE, a perfluoroalkyl sulfonamido alcohol, was also detected in a commercially available carpet protector product. A method was developed to remove these residual compounds from polymeric and surfactant materials by dispersion in water and stripping of the volatiles using a constant flow of air and trapping on XAD resin. Using gas chromatography mass spectrometry analysis, it was determined that the fluorinated materials examined consist of 0.04−3.8% residual alcohols on a fluoro alcohol to dry mass basis. These values indicate that residual alcohols, left unreacted and unbound from the manufacturing process of fluorinated polymers and surfactants, could be a significant source of the polyfluorinated telomer alcohols and sulfonamides released into the environment. This study suggests that elimination or reduction of these residual alcohols from all marketed fluorinated polymers and fluorosurfactants is key in reducing the prevalence of perfluorinated acids formed in the environment