Kotthoff Matthias, Bücking Mark
Department Environmental and Food Analysis, Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology, Schmallenberg, Germany.
Front Chem. 2018 Apr 5;6:103. doi: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00103. eCollection 2018.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) represent a versatile group of ubiquitously occurring chemicals of increasing regulatory concern. The past years lead to an ever expanding portfolio of detected anthropogenic PFAS in numerous products encountered in daily life. Yet no clear picture of the full range of individual substance that comprise PFAS is available and this challenges analytical and engineering sciences. Authorities struggle to cope with uncertainties in managing risk of harm posed by PFAS. This is a result of an incomplete understanding of the range of compounds that they comprise in differing products. There are analytical uncertainties identifying PFAS and estimating the concentrations of the total PFAS load individual molecules remain unknown. There are four major trends from the chemical perspective that will shape PFAS research for the next decade. Mobility: A wide and dynamic distribution of short chain PFAS due to their high polarity, persistency and volatility.Substitution of regulated substances: The ban or restrictions of individual molecules will lead to a replacement with substitutes of similar concern.Increase in structural diversity of existing PFAS molecules: Introduction of e.g., hydrogens and chlorine atoms instead of fluorine, as well as branching and cross-linking lead to a high versatility of unknown target molecules.Unknown "Dark Matter": The amount, identity, formation pathways, and transformation dynamics of polymers and PFAS precursors are largely unknown. These directions require optimized analytical setups, especially multi-methods, and semi-specific tools to determine PFAS-sum parameters in any relevant matrix.
全氟和多氟烷基物质（PFAS）是一类用途广泛的化学物质，普遍存在且日益受到监管关注。在过去几年中，人们在日常生活中接触到的众多产品中检测出的人为源PFAS种类不断增加。然而，目前尚不清楚构成PFAS的所有单个物质的全貌，这给分析科学和工程科学带来了挑战。当局在应对PFAS造成的危害风险管理中的不确定性方面面临困难。这是由于对它们在不同产品中所包含的化合物范围缺乏全面了解所致。在识别PFAS以及估计总PFAS负荷浓度方面存在分析不确定性，单个分子的情况仍然未知。从化学角度来看，有四个主要趋势将塑造未来十年的PFAS研究。流动性：短链PFAS因其高极性、持久性和挥发性而具有广泛且动态的分布。受管制物质的替代：对单个分子的禁令或限制将导致被类似关注度的替代品所取代。现有PFAS分子结构多样性增加：例如引入氢原子和氯原子取代氟原子，以及支化和交联导致未知目标分子具有高度多样性。未知的“暗物质”：聚合物和PFAS前体的数量、身份、形成途径和转化动力学在很大程度上尚不清楚。这些方向需要优化的分析设置，特别是多种方法和半特异性工具，以确定任何相关基质中的PFAS总和参数。
