Determination of Perfluorooctane Sulphonate in Fabrics and Leathers using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

A method was established for the determination of perfluorooctane sulphonate (PFOS) in fabrics and leathers using liquid chromatography -mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). PFOS in fabrics and leathers was extracted by sonication with 0.1 M HCl and methanol. The extract was separated on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (150 mm × 2.1 mm, 3.5 μm) with methanol-10 mM ammonium acetate (70:30) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.3 ml min–1 and determined by negative ESI MS/MS. The conditions of extraction and LC-MS/MS were optimized. The quasi-molecular ion of PFOS at m/z 499 was selected as the precursor ion for MS/MS analysis, and its product ions at m/z 169, 230, 280, 330 and 419 were selected for confirmation. The TIC of MS/MS was used for the qualitative analysis of PFOS. The recovery of PFOS was in the range of 90%–99% and the RSD was less than 8.6%. The limit of detection was 1.5 mg kg–1. The method was proved to be simple and accurate, and has been applied to the determination of PFOS in fabrics and leathers.