Compound-specific, quantitative characterization of organic fluorochemicals in biological matrices

Since the early 1980s, there has been a steady increase in the use of nonvolatile fluorinated organic compounds for a variety of industrial and commercial applications. The industrial use of these relatively stable compounds has initiated debate over the fate of fluorochemicals in the environment and, ultimately, the bioavailability of these compounds. In this manuscript, we present quantitative results from a study of 65 human sera samples purchased from biological supply companies that provide characterization of specific organic fluorochemicals present in the sera of nonindustrially exposed humans. Summed together, the compound-specific characterization data reported here agree closely with levels of nonspeciated organic fluorine that were originally reported to be present in sera in 1970. The compound-specific method for the extraction of extremely low levels of several commercial organic fluorochemicals from sera and liver with quantitative detection by negative ion electrospray tandem mass spectrometry described represents a robust, previously undescribed approach to quantifying specific organic fluorochemicals in biological matrices.