Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
PFASs are a family of synthetic compounds containing thousands of chemicals formed from carbon (C) chains with Fluorine (F) attached to these chains. The C-F bond is the shortest and strongest bond in nature and is responsible for most of the unique and useful characteristics of these compounds. Perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) are fully fluorinated organic compounds and are the most common PFASs produced. PFOS and PFOA are used in a wide variety of industrial and commercial products such as textiles, leathers, aqueous film forming foams (AFFF), metal plating, photo lithography, semi-conductors, coatings on food packaging, paper, coating additives, cleaning products and pesticides.
PFOS and PFOA are persistent in the environment and resistant to typical environmental degradation processes. As a result, they are widely distributed and are found in soil, sediments, groundwater, air and tissue around the world. According to U.S. EPA, PFOA and PFOS pose potential adverse impacts to the environment and human health due to the bioaccumulative and mobile nature of these compounds.
Total Oxidizable Precursor (TOP) Assay
Polyfluorinated compounds are often referred to as “precursors” to the perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs), as they biotransform to PFAAs. Leeder Analytical offer the TOP assay as a solution to the complex problem.
The TOP assay rapidly converts potential PFAA precursors into PFAAs including PFOA, using a hydroxyl radical-based chemical oxidation method. The TOP assay replicates what micro-organisms in the environment may possibly achieve after many years and allows us to quantify the sum of PFAS that could be converted to PFAAs in the environment. Health-based advisories or screening levels for PFOS, PFOA and other PFAS constituents have been developed by U.S. EPA and other agencies around the world.
Leeder Analytical currently offers a total of 30 different PFAS related compounds in the following categories: Perfluoroalkylcarboxylic acids [PFCAs], Perfluorinated sulphonic acids [PFSAs], Perfluorinated sulphonamides [FOSA], Perfluorinated sulfnamidoacetic acids [FPSAA], Perfluoroalkyl-sulphonaminoethanols [PFOSEs] and Fluorotelomer sulphonates [FTS]. This list can increase in accordance to government regulations and also customer requests. Leeder Analytical offers PFAS LCMSMS analysis in the following methods: SW 846 Method 8321 and EPA Method 537. In order to provide the highest accuracy carbon 13-labelled internal standards and surrogates are employed in the analysis.
