Agilent Technologies Partners with China Environmental Centre to Detect Toxins in Water and Soil

05-26-2009: Agilent Technologies Inc. announced it has jointly developed a method to detect and identify perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in water and soil using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (HPLC/MS) with the China National Environmental Monitoring Centre (CNEMC).

PFCs are routinely used in a variety of commercial products to repel oil, grease and water. The study of PFCs has increased recently as continued studies show their persistence and toxicity in the environment and in biological systems. Scientists are especially concerned because, unlike other toxic chemicals, the most pervasive and toxic PFCs never degrade in the natural environment.

“Identifying and addressing PFCs in water and soil is a critical application, growing in importance,” said Agilent’s Yiping Mu, general manager of Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis, Greater China. “Agilent’s environmental portfolio is well positioned to address this need and assist customers with driving their method development and testing capabilities forward.”

“There has been long time cooperation between Agilent and CNEMC in environmental monitoring, such as technical training and application development,” said Dr. Qiang Fu, lab director of CNEMC. “We hope to cooperate further in monitoring technical implementation and solution development.”

The CNEMC was appointed to develop the methods to accurately identify known PFCs. The CNEMC selected Agilent to help develop the PFOS/PFOA analysis method, which identifies the PFCs perfluorooctanesulfonic acid and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOS and PFOA). The China National Standard (also called GB, or Guobiao, Standard) then drafted the method, titled “Analysis of PFCs in Water and Soil by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometry.” The Chinese government included PFOA and PFOS in the scope of study for its National High Technology Research and Development Program. The test samples and method development were performed at Agilent’s Beijing Centre of Excellence.