Development of a fluorinated loofah sponge-based SPE -HPLC-MS/MS method for analysis of perfluorinated compounds in urban water

Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are persistent in urban water systems, threatening the safety of drinking water and aquatic food chains. In this study, fluorinated loofah sponge (FLS) was prepared for selective solid-phase extraction (SPE) and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) determination of 16 PFCs in urban water. The limits of detection (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) of the established method (FLS-based SPE-LC-MS/MS) were 0.006–5 ng/mL and 0.01–10 ng/mL, respectively. This method exhibited a desirable precision with relative standard deviations (RSDs) less than 8.83 % and recoveries in the range of 85.4 %–107.2 %. Finally, this method was successfully applied to investigate the distribution of 16 PFCs in real urban water samples (such as tap water, bottled water, and lake water) collected in Wuhan, China, which enables sensitive dynamic monitoring of PFC migration in urban water networks and identification of potential sources so as to safeguard drinking water quality against emerging PFC contamination.