Reductive Defluorination of Perfluorooctane Sulfonate

Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) is under increased scrutiny asanenvironmentalpollutantduetorecentreportsof itsworldwide distribution, environmental persistence, and bioaccumulation potential. The susceptibility of technical PFOS and PFOS branched isomers to chemical reductive dehalogenation with vitamin B12 (260 μM) as catalyst and Ti(III)-citrate (36 mM) as bulk reductant in anoxic aqueous solution at 70 °C and pH 9 was evaluated in this study. Defluorination was confirmed by fluoride release measurements of 18% in technical PFOS, equivalent to the removal 3 mol F-/mol PFOS, and 71% in PFOS branched isomers equivalent to the removal of 12 mol F-/mol PFOS. Degradation of PFOS was further confirmed by monitoring the disappearance of PFOS compounds with reaction time by suppressed conductivity ion chromatography, LC-MS/MS, and 19F NMR studies. The PFOS compounds differed in their susceptibility to reductive degradation by vitamin B12/Ti(III) citrate. Chromatographic peaks corresponding to branched PFOS isomers disappeared whereas the peak corresponding to linear PFOS was stable. To our knowledge this is the first report of reductive dehalogenation of PFOS catalyzed by a biomolecule.