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

全氟辛烷磺酸是环境、野生动物和人类血清中最主要的污染物之一。全氟辛烷磺酸具有持久性和生物累积性，在动物模型中是一种发育毒物。由于这些危险特性及其在环境中的广泛分布，其主要制造商于2001年逐步停止生产。现在，虽然它最近被添加到关于持久性有机污染物（POP）的国际斯德哥尔摩公约条约的附件B中，但许多例外情况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）。随着全氟辛烷磺酸及其前体在地球仪新地区的生产，以及全氟辛烷磺酸的环境浓度在一些地方继续上升，而在另一些地方却神秘地下降，目前很难预测全氟辛烷磺酸未来对环境造成的风险。特别令人感兴趣的是，全氟辛烷磺酸的前体（即含有全氟辛烷磺酰基部分的重量较高的表面活性剂或聚合物）的生物降解在多大程度上造成了或将造成全氟辛烷磺酸目前和未来的环境负担。我们将开发新的分析工具，并利用这些工具通过主要实验室工作的证明来验证新的全氟辛烷磺酸来源追踪方法。这些方法随后将应用于优先环境研究。有了这些新的分析工具和原则，人们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归宿，未来的化学品法规可能会更有效地减少人类和环境的接触。

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.