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

全氟辛烷磺酸(PFOS)是环境、野生动物和人血清中最突出的污染物之一。全氟辛烷磺酸具有毒性、生物蓄积性，在动物模型中是一种发育毒物。由于这些有害特性及其在环境中的广泛分布，其主要制造商于2001年逐步淘汰了它的生产。现在，尽管它最近被添加到《关于持久性有机污染物的国际斯德哥尔摩公约》(POPS)的附件B中，但允许在中国和其他发展中国家继续大规模生产全氟辛烷磺酸及其前体(可分解为全氟辛烷磺酸的化学品)的许多例外情况。随着全氟辛烷磺酸及其前体在全球新地区的生产，以及全氟辛烷磺酸的环境浓度在一些地方继续上升，而在另一些地方神秘地下降，目前很难预测全氟辛烷磺酸未来带来的环境风险。特别令人感兴趣的是，由于全氟辛烷磺酸前体(即较高重量的表面活性剂或含有全氟辛烷磺酰基团的聚合物)的生物降解，目前和未来的全氟辛烷磺酸的环境负担有多大。我们将开发新的分析工具，并使用这些工具通过主要实验室工作的证明来验证全氟辛烷磺酸的新来源追踪方法。然后这些方法将被应用于优先的环境研究。有了这些新的分析工具和原则，将更好地了解全氟辛烷磺酸及其前体在各种环境中的环境来源和命运，未来的化学品监管可能会在减少人类和环境暴露方面变得更加有效。

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.