Determination of perfluorooctane sulfonates in fire-fighting foam and other materials by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A novel method based on high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) was developed for the determination of perfluorooctane sulfonates (PFOS) in the fire-fighting foam, detergents and fabric finishing agents. The PFOS residue was extracted with water at first by ultrasonic, then separated by high-speed centrifugation. The supernatant was purified by pre-conditioned solid phase extraction (SPE) micro-column, and the extract was filtrated through a membrane with 0.2 microm diameter. The filtrated liquid was analyzed by HPLC using acetonitrile-10 mmol/L ammonium acetate solution (80 : 20, v/v) as mobile phase. The PFOS was detected by using negative electrospray ionization (ESI) on a tandem mass spectrometer in multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) mode. The qualitative analysis of the PFOS can be performed by using the relative abundance of two daughter ions of PFOS, and the quantitative analysis was performed by external standard method. The linear calibration curve was obtained in the range of 0.002 - 0.1 mg/L with a linear correlation coefficient (r2 ) of 0.998. The spiked recoveries for PFOS in the fire-fighting foam, detergents and fabric finishing agents were 93.4% - 103%, 93.2% - 102% and 91.8% - 102% with the relative standard deviation of 0.48% - 3.52%, 0.78% - 1.79% and 0.47% - 3.47%, respectively. And the detection limit for PFOS was 2 mg/kg (S/N > or = 10), which can meet the requirement for the PFOS restriction in fire-fighting foam, detergents and fabric finishing agents in the EU directives. With high accuracy and sensitivity, the method is simple and rapid, and can be used for PFOS inspection in fire-fighting foam, detergents and fabric finishing agents.