Method for trace level analysis of C8, C9, C10, C11, and C13 perfluorocarbon carboxylic acids in water

A method was developed for the trace level analysis of pentadecafluorooctanoic acid (C8), heptadecafluorononanoic acid (C9), nonadecafluorodecanoic acid (C10), heneicosafluoroundecanoic acid (C11) and pentacosafluorotridecanoic acid (C13) in water. Samples were concentrated by solid-phase extraction (SPE) before analysis by combined liquid chromatography/electrospray tandem mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS). A surrogate standard, 9-hydrohexadecafluorononanoic acid (9H), was used to monitor recovery. The lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) for C8, C9, C10, C11, and C13 was determined to be 25 ng/L in water. The specificity of the method was established by showing no significant interferences ( 0.985. Good within-day and between-day accura...