Estimated pKa values for the environmentally relevant C1 through C8 perfluorinated sulfonic acid isomers

In order to estimate isomer-specific acidity constants (pKa) for the perfluorinated sulfonic acid (PFSA) environmental contaminants, the parameterization method 6 (PM6) pKa prediction method was extensively validated against a wide range of carbon oxyacids and related sulfonic/sulfinic acids. Excellent pKa prediction performance was observed for the carbon oxyacids using the PM6 method, but this approach was found to have a severe positive bias for sulfonic/sulfinic acids. To overcome this obstacle, a correlation was developed between non-adjusted PM6 pKa values and the corresponding experimentally obtained/estimated acidity constants for a range of representative alkyl, aryl and halogen-substituted sulfonic acids. Application of this correction to the PM6 values allows for extension of this computational method to a new acid functional group. When used to estimate isomer-specific pKa values for the C1 through C8 PFSAs, the modified PM6 approach suggests an adjusted pKa range from -5.3 to -9.0, indicating that all members of this class of well-known environmental contaminants will be effectively completely dissociated in aquatic systems.