Tracking the sources of perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) by enantiomer and isomer profile analysis

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Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is among the most prominent contaminants in the environment, in wildlife, and in human serum. PFOS is persitent, bioaccumulative, and is a developmental toxicant in animal models. Due to these hazardous properties and its wide distribution in the environment, it was phased out of production by its primary manufacturer in 2001. Now, although it was recently added to Annex B of the International Stockholm Convention Treaty on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), many exceptions were granted which allow the continued mass production of PFOS and its precursors (chemicals that can break down to PFOS) in China and other developing countries. With production of PFOS and its precursors in new areas of the globe, and as the environmental concentrations of PFOS continue to rise in some locations while mysteriously declining in others, it is currently difficult to predict the future environmental risks posed by PFOS. Of particular interest is to what extent current and future environmental burdens of PFOS are, or will be, due to biodegradation of PFOS precursors (i.e. higher weight surfactants or polymers containing perfluorooctanesulfonyl moieties). We will develop new analytical tools and use these to validate new source tracking methods for PFOS through proof of principal laboratory work. The methods will then be applied to priority environmental studies. With these new analytical tools and principles, the environmental sources and fate of PFOS and its precursors in various environments will be better understood and, future chemical regulation may become more effective at reducing human and environmental exposure.