Estimation of the Acid Dissociation Constant of Perfluoroalkyl Carboxylic Acids through an Experimental Investigation of their Water-to-Air Transport

• Published in: Environmental science & technology Vol. 47; no. 19; pp. 11032 - 11039
• Main Authors: Vierke, Lena, Berger, Urs, Cousins, Ian T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Chemical Society 01.10.2013
• Subjects: Acidity; Acids; Air; Applied sciences; Atmospheric pollution; Biological and physicochemical phenomena; carboxylic acids; Carboxylic Acids - chemistry; Chemical compounds; dissociation; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics; Estimating techniques; Exact sciences and technology; Experiments; Fluorocarbons - chemistry; Natural water pollution; partition coefficients; perfluorooctanoic acid; Pollutants physicochemistry study: properties, effects, reactions, transport and distribution; Pollution; Pollution, environment geology; sulfonic acids; Volatilization; Water - chemistry; Water Pollutants, Chemical - chemistry; Water treatment and pollution; Emerging contaminant; Organic perhalocompound; Pollutant behavior; Dissociation constant; Environmental factor; Acidity; Air water interface; Persistent organic pollutant; Transport process; Carboxylic acid; Perfluoroalkyl acid; Volatilization; Organic fluorine compounds; pH; Air pollution; Water pollution; Organic compounds

The acid dissociation constants (pK as) of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids (PFCAs) have been the subject of discussion in the literature; for example, values from −0.2 to 3.8 have been suggested for perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA). The dissociated anionic conjugate bases of PFCAs have negligible air–w...