Automated bundled hollow fiber array-liquid-phase microextraction with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometric analysis of perfluorinated compounds in aqueous media

Abstract

An automated bundled hollow fiber array (BHF)-liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) methodology in combination with ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) has been developed for the determination of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in environmental aqueous matrices. Eight PFCs were considered, including perfluoroheptanoic acid, perfluorooctanoic acid, perfluorononanoic acid, perfluorodecanoic acid, perfluoroundecanoic acid, perfluorododecanoic acid, perfluorotridecanoic acid, perfluorotetradecanoic acid. Experimental parameters influencing extraction efficiency, such as number of hollow fibers in the BHF extraction device, type of extraction and desorption solvent, extraction conditions (stirring rate, temperature and duration), elution conditions and the salting out effect were examined. Under the most favourable conditions, enrichment factors of between 9 and 40 were achieved for the target compounds when extracting from 10 mL of sample. Good intra and inter-day precision were obtained with relative standard deviations of less than 12%. The linearity range investigated was between 5 and 10,000 ng L−1, with coefficients of determination (r2) ≥ 0.991. The developed method was applied for the UHPLC-MS/MS determination of environmental PFCs in industrial water discharge samples. The automation of BHF-LPME together with UHPLC-MS/MS rendered the method efficient, rapid and sensitive to determine PFCs, with the possibility of on-site real-time monitoring of contaminants in environmental waters.