QuEChERS combined with accelerated solvent extraction to enhance the determination of perfluoroalkyl substances in animal samples

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been widely detected in animal samples. But the fats, indispensable tissue in animals, can seriously hinder the PFASs extraction due to their nature of complex, unbreakable, and concretionary. To address this, a new sample preparation method, combining the advantages of ASE and QuEChERS, is proposed. Firstly, the extraction conditions of new method are optimized as co-solvent of MeCN+H 2 O, temperature of 100 °C, and time of 30 min. The MeCN performs better than MeOH because the MeOH will bring some impurities (phospholipids). The H 2 O under high temperature plays important dual functions of digestion and organic solvent. The exothermic reaction of MgSO 4 also enhance the PFASs extraction. Next, 15 animal samples are screened by both the new ASE+QuEChERS and traditional QuEChERS. The lower and upper limits of quantitation are 0.25 ng g −1 and 25.00 ng g −1 , respectively. Nine PFASs are detected in five positive simples. The new method can improve the total concentration of PFASs by range from 6 % to 64 %. Lastly, both the new ASE+QuEChERS and traditional QuEChERS methods are validated based on 10 relevant food simples. This study provides a simple, efficient and practical method for extraction of PFASs from animal samples.