The primary aim of this article is to provide an overview of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) detected in the environment, wildlife, and humans, and recommend clear, specific, and descriptive terminology, names, and acronyms for PFASs. The overarching objective is to unify and harmonize communication on PFASs by offering terminology for use by the global scientific, regulatory, and industrial communities. A particular emphasis is placed on long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, substances related to the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids, and substances intended as alternatives to the use of the long-chain perfluoroalkyl acids or their precursors. First, we define PFASs, classify them into various families, and recommend a pragmatic set of common names and acronyms for both the families and their individual members. Terminology related to fluorinated polymers is an important aspect of our classification. Second, we provide a brief description of the 2 main production processes, electrochemical fluorination and telomerization, used for introducing perfluoroalkyl moieties into organic compounds, and we specify the types of byproducts (isomers and homologues) likely to arise in these processes. Third, we show how the principal families of PFASs are interrelated as industrial, environmental, or metabolic precursors or transformation products of one another. We pay particular attention to those PFASs that have the potential to be converted, by abiotic or biotic environmental processes or by human metabolism, into long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic or sulfonic acids, which are currently the focus of regulatory action. The Supplemental Data lists 42 families and subfamilies of PFASs and 268 selected individual compounds, providing recommended names and acronyms, and structural formulas, as well as Chemical Abstracts Service registry numbers. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2011;7:513–541. © 2011 SETAC

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Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in the environment: Terminology, classification, and origins

The science of the total environment

Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers: sources, occurrence, toxicity and human exposure.

Fluorinated alternatives to long-chain perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs), perfluoroalkane sulfonic acids (PFSAs) and their potential precursors

Behaviour and fate of perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) in drinking water treatment: a review

Distribution and sources of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the River Rhine watershed

Occurrence and fate of organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in coastal and marine surface waters.

Organophosphorus compounds (OPs) being applied as flame retardants and plasticizers were investigated in airborne particles over the Pacific, Indian, Arctic, and Southern Ocean. Samples taken during two polar expeditions in 2010/11, one from East Asia to the high Arctic (CHINARE 4) and another from East Asia toward the Indian Ocean to the Antarctic (CHINARE 27), were analyzed for three halogenated OPs (tris(2-chloroethyl) phosphate (TCEP), tris(2-chloroisopropyl) phosphate (TCPP) and tris(1,3-dichloro-2-isopropyl) phosphate (TDCP)), four alkylated OPs (tri-n-butyl phosphate (TnBP), tri-iso-butyl phosphate (TiBP), tris(2-butoxyethyl)phosphate (TBEP), and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP)), and triphenyl phosphate (TPhP). The sum of the eight investigated OPs ranged from 230 to 2900 pg m(-3) and from 120 to 1700 pg m(-3) during CHINARE 4 and CHINARE 27, respectively. TCEP and TCPP were the predominating compounds, both over the Asian seas as well as in the polar regions, with concentrations from 19 to 2000 pg m(-3) and 22 to 620 pg m(-3), respectively. Elevated concentrations were observed in proximity to the Asian continent enhanced by continental air masses. They decreased sharply toward the open oceans where they remained relatively stable. This paper shows the first occurrence of OPs over the global oceans proving that they undergo long-range atmospheric transport over the global oceans toward the Arctic and Antarctica.

Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in airborne particles over the Northern Pacific and Indian Ocean toward the Polar Regions: evidence for global occurrence.

Dechlorane Plus (DP), a highly chlorinated flame retardant, was investigated in marine boundary layer air and surface seawater from East Greenland Sea and in the Northern and Southern Atlantic toward Antarctica. The concentrations of DP ranged from 0.05 to 4.2 pg m−3 in the atmosphere and from <MDL to 1.3 pg L−1 in seawater. The occurrence of DP even in the remote areas of the Arctic and Antarctica suggests that DP is susceptible to long-range atmospheric transport (LRAT). Along the Atlantic atmosphere, the highest concentration was observed in the English Channel originating from continental air passing Western Europe indicating Western Europe as source region of DP in the marine environment. Thereby, the fractional abundance of the syn isomer (fsyn) increased with decreasing northern latitude from 0.37 which is close to the commercial mixture (fsyn = 0.32) to ∼0.67 showing a stereoselective depletion of the anti isomer likely caused by UV-sunlight during LRAT. In addition, two degradation products ([-1C...

Axel Möller

Papers

Distribution and sources of polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in the River Rhine watershed

Occurrence and fate of organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in coastal and marine surface waters.

Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in airborne particles over the Northern Pacific and Indian Ocean toward the Polar Regions: evidence for global occurrence.

Large-scale distribution of dechlorane plus in air and seawater from the Arctic to Antarctica.

Organophosphorus flame retardants and plasticizers in the atmosphere of the North Sea.