Capturing the PFAS Footprint and Potential Hotspots: LC-MS/MS vs. a New Total Organic Fluorine Method

Unraveling PFAS Complexity

The story of PFAS is a fast evolving one and ensuring that you have all the information and equipment that you need to successfully perform PFAS testing is vital. In this series of webinars we discuss regulatory requirements, screening techniques and the analysis of targeted and non-targeted PFAS for the modern analytical testing laboratory.

Capturing the PFAS Footprint and Potential Hotspots: LC-MS/MS vs. a New Total Organic Fluorine Method

LC-MS/MS is the gold standard for measuring PFAS in the environment with the ability to capture low- and even sub-parts-per trillion levels. However, standards are only available for a limited number of PFAS, such that quantitative methods only capture a small part of the PFAS footprint. This presentation will detail the development of two new Total Organic Fluorine methods that use combustion-ion chromatography to more comprehensively capture PFAS, capturing known and unknown organic fluorine. Professor Richardson will also show results from a statewide mapping of South Carolina surface waters using one of these new Total Organic Fluorine methods and compare to what we can measure using LC-MS/MS.

Learning points:

• How total organic fluorine methods work
• How up to 99% more PFAS in environmental samples can be captured compared to target LC-MS/MS methods
• How Total Organic Fluorine can be used to find PFAS hotspots

Presenter: Dr. Susan Richardson (Arthur Sease Williams Professor of Chemistry, University of South Carolina - Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry)

Professor Richardson’s research is interdisciplinary and focuses mostly on improving the safety of drinking water. Recent work also includes development of new analytical methods and technologies to measure contaminants in the environment. Examples include (1) Total Organic Fluorine methods to allow a comprehensive assessment of PFAS in industrial wastewater, river water, and air, (2) Highly sensitive GC-MS(/MS) methods to quantify 72 DBPs in drinking water, and (3) Vacuum-assisted sorbent extraction-GC-MS/MS methods to measure DBPs in drinking water and urine. Mass spectrometry is one of the main tools used in research to identify new environmental contaminants and to quantify contaminants.

Presenter: Chris Shevlin (Scientific and Educational Affairs Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Chris Shevlin is the Scientific and Educational Affairs Manager for Ion Chromatography and Automated Sample Preparation systems at Thermo Fisher Scientific. After graduating from the University of Buffalo, he started working in a pharmaceutical laboratory running HPLC, LC-MS and other chromatographic methods in a technical services and QC laboratory. After earning an MBA in 2004, Chris has worked in sales, product management and marketing with a few of the major analytical instrument manufacturers since then.

In 2015, Chris joined Thermo Scientific working with their chromatography and mass spectrometry systems and in 2019 moved into a product marketing role for Ion Chromatography and Automated Sample Preparation business unit. In his current role, he is partnering with scientists on new applications through collaborations, developing scientific and educational content, and working with new products and innovations.

Chris’s entire professional career has been focused on chromatography and sample preparation. First as a chemist in the lab, then to sales and product and marketing management. This experience has helped Chris to have an in depth understanding of the challenges faced by analytical laboratories and how to improve their workflows and processes.

Presenter: Ed George (Vertical Marketing Manager, Thermo Fisher Scientific)

Ed George has a BS in Chemistry from the University of Notre Dame with concentration in Environmental Science. He worked for 15 years in the environmental laboratory industry, holding positions of Lab Technician, Lab Manager, and R&D Manager, responsible for developing novel sample preparation and analytical methods in soil and water on GC/MS/MS and LC/MS/MS platforms. He participated in several collaborative method development projects with the USEPA. In 2014, he joined Thermo Fisher Scientific and is currently a Senior Applications Scientist. He has worked closely with key collaborators on food safety and environmental projects in universities and industry and has recently developed workflow applications for pesticide and veterinary drug residues in food on both LC/MS/MS and high-resolution MS platforms.