Room-temperature synthesis of fluorinated covalent organic framework coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for determination of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water.

Abstract

The routine monitoring of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in drinking water has become an important task in the field of public health. In this study, a fluorinated covalent organic framework (COF) was synthesized at room temperature using tetra-(4-aminophenyl) methane (TAM) and 2,3,5, 6-tetrafluoro-terephthalal (TFTA) as building blocks and named as TAM-TFTA-COF. The adsorption characteristics of PFASs on the TAM-TFTA-COF were investigated through adsorption model-fitting and molecular calculation. The TAM-TFTA-COF was served as the solid phase extraction (SPE) cartridge packing for the enrichment of PFASs. Combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, the proposed method showed good linearity in the range of 1.25-375 ng·L^-1, low limits of detection (0.03-0.24 ng·L^-1), and excellent intraday and interday precisions with RSD <10.3 %. Furthermore, this analytical method can be utilized for the determination of PFASs in tap water, spring water, and lake water with satisfactory accuracy.