AppBrief No. 15 : Determination of PFAS in Drinking Water Using an Automated FREESTYLE XANA-PFAS System [1]

Abstract

Water quality is of the utmost importance, and recently, the importance of analyzing water for emerging contaminants has been brought to light. Among the emerging compounds being determined are per- and polyfluorinated alkyl substances (PFAS), which have been found to be persistent environmental contaminants derived from various industries. For example, perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) has been used in several different industries, including the semiconductor and photographic industries, in some firefighting foams, and in hydraulic fluids used in the aviation industry. Modern analytical labs are looking to automation to help increase sample throughput while ensuring the resulting data is of the highest quality. The following application brief shows the fully automated sample preparation of water samples for LC-MS/MS analysis by applying SPE with the FREESTYLE XANA-PFAS robotic system according to US EPA 537.1 [2]. The resulting extracts are introduced into an Agilent 6470 LC-MS/MS instrument for detection and quantification.