Abstract: Perfluorinated alkyl acids (PFAAs) are a group of emerging persistent organic pollutant that have received increasing attention due to their global occurrence, accumulation and toxicity. At present, PFAA detection mainly uses high-performance liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), ultra-performance liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS), gas chromatography (GC) and spectroscopy. However, these detection methods often involve complicated sample pretreatment, longer work cycle and higher cost, therefore, they are not suitable for quick PFAA detection. In this study, we developed a method for quick analysis of 16 PFAAs in groundwater and aquifer based on UPLC-MS/MS. In the experiment, the groundwater sample was filtered through 0.22 μm membrane and injected directly into the detection instrument; the aquifer sample was prepared by liquid solvent extraction. A good linear calibration using 16 PFAAs standards was achieved (R2>0.99) in the low and high concentration ranges of 550 and 100500 μg/L, respectively. The method’s detection limits (MDLs) of 16 PFAAs in groundwater were 0.061.07 μg/L, and the recovery rates were 75%120% with relative standard deviations (RSD) at 2.61%9.19%. In aquifer media, MDLs of 14 PFAAs were 2.6912.33 ng/L, and the recovery rates were 65%103% with RSDs at 1.96%7.22%.

Key words: perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acid (PFCA), perfluoroalkyl sulfonic acid (PFSA), water, soil, liquid chromatographytandem mass spectrometry