title: Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) with isomer analysis in the commercial PFOS and PFOA products in China.
abstract: Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs) have been widely used in consumer and industrial products for decades and are widely detected in the environment and humans all over the world. The information on the isomeric profiles of commercial products is important to identify the manufacturing origins of PFAAs in the environment. For the first time, the PFAA compositions and isomeric profiles of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) were reported in three PFOS and five PFOA commercial products manufactured in China. The purity of the three PFOS products was 76.7-80.6%. The major impurity in the PFOS products is PFOA, which contributes more than 10%. Other impurities include perfluorohexanesulfonate (PFHxS), perfluorohexanoate (PFHxA) and perfluoroheptanoate acids (PFHpA). The percentage of linear PFOS (n-PFOS) in the three products was 66.2-71.9%, similar to that in the product manufactured by 3M (70.3%). The purity of the five PFOA products was relatively high (94.0-95.8%), and the major impurity was PFOS (2.06-3.09%). The percentage of n-PFOA in the five PFOA products was 76.4-77.9%, which was similar to that in the 3M PFOA (78%). Although it is widely accepted that telomerization is currently the predominant manufacturing method for PFOA, yielding an isomerically pure and linear product, the results in the present study suggest that electrochemical fluorination is still used by some manufacturers in China.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China; South China Institute of Environmental Science, Ministry of Environmental Protection, Guangzhou 510655, PR China.
authors.forename: Weiwei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Yifeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Liping
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiaolong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Pollution Processes and Environmental Criteria, Ministry of Education, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, PR China. Electronic address: zhuly@nankai.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Lingyan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
mesh_terms: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002210:Caprylates / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D002617:Chemical Industry / Q000592:standards*; D002681:China; D004785:Environmental Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000032:analysis* / Q000737:chemistry; D006801:Humans; D007536:Isomerism
chemical_list: D017738:Alkanesulfonic Acids; D002210:Caprylates; D004785:Environmental Pollutants; D005466:Fluorocarbons; C023036:perfluorooctanoic acid; C076994:perfluorooctane sulfonic acid
keywords: Compositions; Electrochemical fluorination (ECF); Isomers; Perfluoroalkyl acids (PFAAs); Telomerization