Analyzing PFAS: What to Know About the ‘Forever Chemicals’

First developed in the 1940s, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been used by numerous industrial and commercial sectors to create products with thermal and chemical stability, water resistance and stain resistance. Unfortunately, these PFAS chemicals aren’t good for people or the planet.  

Instrumentation provides insights 

Awareness of PFAS contamination in the environment first emerged in the late 1990s following developments in tandem LC-MS/MS instrumentation, which enabled low-level target detection. Most regulations have been focused on environmental contamination of PFAS that have leached into water and soil samples from a variety of sources, such as landfills or aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) used to extinguish flammable liquid fires.  

9000+ PFAS and more standards needed 

The need to analyze PFAS in other matrices is growing rapidly since these chemicals are very stable and readily bioaccumulate in plant and animal tissues. Moreover, there are over 9,000 known PFAS (with more PFAS being actively discovered) and only a very limited number of certified reference standards commercially available for routine targeted analysis. 

Choosing an instrument for PFAS testing: What matrices and workflows are relevant to your lab? 

Although tandem LC-MS/MS instrumentation is widely adopted for regulatory analysis of PFAS at low part-per-trillion detection limits in a variety of matrices, HRAM can also play a very important role in your laboratory. 

HRAM advantage #1: Retrospective analysis workflows 

High-resolution accurate-mass (HRAM) analysis by Thermo Scientific™ Orbitrap Exploris™ mass spectrometry not only provides excellent quantification and identification of target PFAS, it also enables retrospective analysis of sample data files for other untargeted PFAS that may be present in a sample. 

HRAM advantage #2: Ability to overcome matrix interferences 

In some food matrices, the high mass selectivity of HRAM MS, due to the low parts per million (ppm) mass accuracy and high mass resolution, can help to overcome matrix interferences observed in the analysis of animal tissue extracts. 

Want to learn more about PFAS testing, technologies and methods? 

Download the Application Note: Detection and quantification of PFAS in animal tissue using Orbitrap Exploris 120 high-resolution mass spectrometer.

Download the whitepaper: PFAS Testing: Technologies You Need to Meet Current and Future Regulatory Standards.  

Related information

Blog: Comprehensively Profile 10,000+ PFAS Compounds Using HRAM? View the Webinar