Uncovering per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with nontargeted ion mobility spectrometry–mass spectrometry analyses

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adj7048
• Publication Date: 2023-10-25T17:59:21Z
• Authors: Kaylie I. Kirkwoo...; James N. Dodds; Astrid Schnetzer; Nathan Hall; Erin S. Baker
• Keywords: Ion-mobility spectrometry; Fragmentation

Because of environmental and health concerns, legacy per- polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have been voluntarily phased out, thousands emerging PFAS introduced as replacements. Traditional analytical methods target a limited number mainly PFAS; therefore, many species are not routinely assessed in the environment. Nontargeted approaches using high-resolution mass spectrometry therefore used to detect characterize unknown PFAS. However, their ability elucidate chemical structures relies on generation informative fragments, low concentration fragmented typical data-dependent acquisition approaches. Here, data-independent method leveraging ion mobility (IMS) size-dependent fragmentation was developed applied aquatic passive samplers deployed near North Carolina fluorochemical manufacturer. From study, 11 for various polyfluorinated ether sulfonic acids multiheaded perfluorinated were elucidated addition 36 known Eight these previously unreported media, three suspected validated.