Unusual Fragmentations of Silylated Polyfluoroalkyl Compounds Induced by Electron Ionization

Published

August 12, 2025

Author(s)

Yufang Zheng, Edward Erisman, Weihua Ji, Stephen Stein, William Wallace

Abstract

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are environmentally persistent compounds that present analytical challenges due to their stability and low concentrations. In this study, electron ionization (EI) mass spectra of trimethylsilyl(TMS) derivatized fluorinated alcohols and carboxylic acids were examined to improve PFAS identification in the NIST Mass Spectral Reference Library. In contrast with the spectra of unsubstituted alcohol TMS compounds featuring losses of hydrocarbons, fluorinated alcohol TMS derivatives are characterized by the losses of fluorinated silyl groups. For example, a previously unreported [M−111]⁺ ion was consistently observed in compounds containing three methylene groups between the hydroxyl group and the first CF₂ unit. Detailed quality assurance analysis using a suite of NIST software tools along with high-resolution TOF-MS confirmed the origin and elemental composition of this ion. MS2 experiments and full scan of TMS derivatives of fluorinated alcohols with varying numbers of methylene groups investigations suggest the formation of a five-membered ring intermediate as a key feature in this unique fragmentation pathway. These findings improve our understanding of PFAS fragmentation and support more accurate compound identification in analytical workflows.

Citation

Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.5c00185

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Keywords

fluorinated alcohols, fluorinated carboxylic acids, ion fragmentation pathway, PFAS, reference library, reference spectrum

Citation

Zheng, Y. , Erisman, E. , Ji, W. , Stein, S. and Wallace, W. (2025), Unusual Fragmentations of Silylated Polyfluoroalkyl Compounds Induced by Electron Ionization, Journal of the American Society for Mass Spectrometry, [online], https://doi.org/10.1021/jasms.5c00185, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960113 (Accessed October 10, 2025)