Liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry analysis of perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic Acid in fish fillet samples.

Viviana Paiano,Caterina Generoso,Renzo Bagnati,Elena Fattore,Roberto Fanelli,Andrea Carrà

doi:10.1155/2012/719010

Abstract

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic (PFOA) acid are persistent contaminants which can be found in environmental and biological samples. A new and fast analytical method is described here for the analysis of these compounds in the edible part of fish samples. The method uses a simple liquid extraction by sonication, followed by a direct determination using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The linearity of the instrumental response was good, with average regression coefficients of 0.9971 and 0.9979 for PFOS and PFOA, respectively, and the coefficients of variation (CV) of the method ranged from 8% to 20%. Limits of detection (LOD) were 0.04 ng/g for both the analytes and recoveries were 90% for PFOS and 76% for PFOA. The method was applied to samples of homogenized fillets of wild and farmed fish from the Mediterranean Sea. Most of the samples showed little or no contamination by perfluorooctane sulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid, and the highest concentrations detected among the fish species analyzed were, respectively, 5.96 ng/g and 1.89 ng/g. The developed analytical methodology can be used as a tool to monitor and to assess human exposure to perfluorinated compounds through sea food consumption.

Highlights

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are a large group of chemicals characterized by a fully fluorinated hydrophobic chain and an hydrophilic head
Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) seem to meet the criteria of persistence, biomagnifications, and long-distance transport to be included in the definition of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), under the Stockholm Convention; they cause particular concern because they have been shown to be carcinogenic in experimental animals [9,10,11]
For this reason most of the work concerning analytical determination of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and PFOA has been done on water and blood samples [17,18,19] whereas limited information is available regarding the performance Journal of Analytical Methods in Chemistry

Summary

Introduction

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are a large group of chemicals characterized by a fully fluorinated hydrophobic chain and an hydrophilic head. Over the last 40 years PFCs have been produced for a large number of applications, such as surface treatments for coatings, clothes, carpets, packaging products, cookware, and food contact papers Nowadays they are global contaminants which have been detected in environmental and biological samples from different areas worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8]. As opposed to other POPs, which accumulate in fat-rich tissues, these chemicals are water soluble and tend to bind to serum proteins and to accumulate in liver, kidneys, and bladder of exposed organisms For this reason most of the work concerning analytical determination of PFOS and PFOA has been done on water and blood samples [17,18,19] whereas limited information is available regarding the performance. The purpose was to provide a sound and reliable methodology to quantify these pollutants in fish, which seem to be one of the main routes of exposure to these pollutants for human population

Experimental

Results and Discussion

Conclusions