Validation and determination of nine PFCS in surface water and sediment samples using UPLC-QTOF-MS B. O. Fagbayigbo & B. O. Opeolu & O. S. Fatoki & O. S. Olatunji Received: 30 December 2017 /Accepted: 2 May 2018 # Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract In this study, an analytical method for the routine determination of nine perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), using ultra performance liquid chromatography coupled to a quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrome- ter (UPLC-QTOF-MS), was developed, validated, and used for their assay in surface water and sediments. The method yielded good linearity with a correlation coeffi- cient (R 2 ) ranging between 0.991 and 0.999 for all the compounds investigated. Limits of detection (LOD) ranged between 0.02 and 0.08 ng/l, while the limit of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.065 to 0.261 ng/l. Recovery studies were carried out in replicate assays, and percentage recoveries ranged between 56 and 112% for the nine perfluorinated compounds investigated. The method was applied to determine levels of perflurooctanoic acid (PFOA) and PFOS in surface water and sediment samples collected along the Plankenburg River in Stellenbosch, South Africa. Samples were pre-treated, extracted, and cleaned up via offline solid-phase extraction (SPE) proce- dures, using hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) C-18 cartridges. Levels of PFOA and PFOS found in surface water ranged between (12.8 ± 4.24 and 62.62 ± 4.86 ng/l) and (<LOD and 3.8 ng/l), re- spectively, while levels measured in corresponding sediment samples ranged between 0.14–0.33 ng/g (PFOA) and <LOD and 0.7 ± 0.013 ng/g (PFOS). Concentrations of PFOA and PFOS were suspected to be associated with anthropogenic activities in the vicinity of the sampling areas. Keywords Surface water . Sediment . Perfluorinated compounds . UPLC-QTOF-MS Introduction Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) belong to a class of chemicals referred to as organofluorines. The unique physicochemical properties of PFCs such as lipophobicity and hydrophobicity are responsi- ble for their many industrial and domestic appli- cations. These include oil- and dirt-resistant sur- face coatings for fabrics and carpets, applications in the pulp and paper industry and the mining industry, fire-fighting foams, oil-well surfactants, floor varnishing, and insecticide formulations (Ahrens et al. 2015; Giesy and Kannan 2002; Post et al. 2012). Enormous use of domestic and industrial PFC-containing applications/substances has been reported as the major source of Environ Monit Assess (2018) 190:346 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6715-2 Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-018-6715-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. B. O. Fagbayigbo (*) : B. O. Opeolu Department of Environmental Health and Occupational Studies, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 8000, South Africa e-mail: bermedailay@hotmail.com O. S. Fatoki : O. S. Olatunji Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied Sciences, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town 8000, South Africa