Rapid detection of perfluorinated compounds in tap water using confined methanol

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), characterized by their persistence and bioaccumulative properties, have been extensively detected across diverse environmental compartments, including aquatic systems, sediments, and organisms. These contaminants enter human bodies via food chain transfer, subsequently undergoing internal transport and metabolic transformation. Meanwhile, the detection of samples is also difficult to achieve sensitivity analysis due to the low content of the analytes and the complex matrix. Based on this, we propose a novel approach for analyzing the derivatives of 9 PFCs (derivatization reaction conditions: 1 min, room temperature) in tap water using carbon nanofibers/carbon fibers (CNFs/CFs) nanoconfined solvent extraction method, termed nanoconfined liquid phase nanoextraction (NLPNE), coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The effect of various experimental parameters on extraction efficiency was investigated using a Box-Behnken design (BBD), such as volume of nanoconfined solvent, extraction time and desorption time, which method requires a less solvent-consumption (20 μL) and time ≤ 1 min, meeting the requirements for green environmental and sustainable development. Under optimal conditions, the developed method shown good linearity within the studied concentration range. Accuracy was evaluated by analyzing the extraction recovery of spiked tap water sample, the satisfactory recoveries (71.31%-126.15%) with RSD ≤ 17.45%. In addition, the limits of detection (LODs) for the analytes were in the range of 0.2-3 μg L^-1, which the sensitivity has been significantly improved. Considering the versatility of nanoconfined solvent extraction method, indicated that the NLPNE is a promising pretreatment technique for detecting PFCs in real samples.