A liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method for determining 18 per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in...

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been determined in waters intended for human consumption, causing concern due to their potential toxic effects in humans and the environment. Drinking water is acknowledged to be one of the major routes of exposure to PFASs, which has led to the implementation of regulatory guidelines for PFASs in drinking water. In this study a fast, simple, sensitive and cost-effective method is developed for the determination of 18 PFASs in river and drinking water. The proposed method consists of directly injecting 900 µL of sample into a liquid chromatograph coupled to a triple quadrupole mass analyser, which involves minimal sample treatment as the sample only needs to be filtered. The method was validated in influent and effluent water from a drinking water treatment plant. Strong matrix effects were found for some of the target PFASs, and matrix-matched calibration curves were performed to enable accurate (87-114%) and precise (%RSD between 3 and 18%) quantification (n = 5, at 5 and 75 ng·L^-1) with very good sensitivity (method quantitation limits between 0.1 and 2.0 ng·L^-1). The method was applied to water samples from the influent and effluent of a drinking water treatment plant located in Catalonia (Spain), as well as in tap water and bottled water. The most abundant PFAS in all the types of water was PFBA, which represents 48%, 49%, 66% and 69% of total PFASs found in influent, effluent, tap and bottled water respectively. Relative mean abundances and the sum of mean concentrations in influent and effluent water suggests poor removal of PFASs during drinking water treatment. The concentrations of PFASs in bottled waters were generally lower than those in tap waters.