Determination of Ionic and Nonionic Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFASs) in the Surface Water of the Qiantang River, China by Solid-Phase Extraction (SPE) and Ultra-High Performance Liquid Chromatography-Tandem Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS)

Abstract

An improved analytical method was developed for the simultaneous quantification of ionic and nonionic perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in surface water followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-MS/MS). The conditions for liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry were optimized and several solid phase extraction cartridges and elution solvents were compared. The low detection limits of the analytes ranged from 0.010 to 0.285 ng/L. Reasonable recoveries (76.4–112.3%) were demonstrated at different spiked levels with relative standard deviations lower than 18.9%. The method was applied for the surface water samples collected from different sampling sites in the Qiantang River, China. The results showed that 7 perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids and 3 perfluroalkane sulfonic acids were detected while perfluorosulfonamide were not present. In addition, the total concentrations of PFASs in middle and downstream of the Qiantang River were higher (154.11–199.28 ng/L) than upstream (9.38–9.80 ng/L), which may be due to presence of the textile and paper industries.

Keywords:

• Ionic and nonionic
• perfluoroalkyl substances
• Qiantang River
• solid-phase extraction
• ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Analysis and Testing Foundation in Science and Technology Plan of Zhejiang Province (grant number 2018C37031).