Simultaneous determination of mono- and disubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphates in drinking water by liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive liquid chromatography–electrospray tandem mass spectrometry method was established for the simultaneous determination of five monosubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (monoPAPs) and eight disubstituted polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (diPAPs) in drinking water. Complete separation and good retention for 13 polyfluoroalkyls phosphates (PAPs) were achieved with a Waters ACUITY UPLC BEH C8 column using a mixture of methanol/water containing 0.1% NH4OH as the mobile phases. Extraction of drinking water samples was performed on weak anion exchange (WAX) cartridges, and the recoveries of target compounds were from 65 to 110%. The limits of quantization (LOQs) for 13 analytes were in the range of 0.4–40 ng/L. This method was applied to analyze the PAPs in drinking water samples from three cities in China. Of the 13 PAPs, six PAPs including 6:2 monoPAP (13.0 ng/L), 8:2 monoPAP (3.6 ng/L), 10:1 monoPAP (4.3–70.3 ng/L), 10:2 monoPAP (1.4–5.6 ng/L), 8:2 diPAP (0.10 ng/L), and 10:1 diPAP (0.8–3.8 ng/L) were detected.

► Polyfluoroalkyl phosphates (PAPs) are candidate precursors of perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs).
► A very sensitive method for simultaneously analyzing 13 PAPs in drinking water by LC–MS/MS was developed.
► A weak anion exchange (WAX) cartridge was used for extraction.