Uptake of 8:2 perfluoroalkyl phosphate diester and its degradation products by carrot and lettuce from compost-amended soil.

The present work studied the uptake of 8:2 perfluoroalkyl phosphate diester (diPAP) by two different crops (lettuce and carrot) and two different amended soils. Firstly, the possible degradation of 8:2 diPAP in the absence of crop was studied and 8:2 monoPAP (monophosphate), 8:2 FTCA (saturated fluorotelomer carboxylate), 8:2 FTUCA (unsaturated fluorotelomer carboxylate), 7:3 FTCA (saturated fluorotelomer carboxylate), PFHpA (perfluoroheptanoic acid), PFHxA (perfluorohexanoic acid) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid) were detected. In the presence of crops, different degradation products were detected in the soil and, while PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid), PFHpA, PFHxA, PFPeA (perfluoropentacoic acid), PFBA (perfluorobutanoic acid), 7:3 FTCA and PFOA were determined in the cultivation media when carrot was grown, PFOA was the only degradation product detected in the case of lettuce experiments. Regarding the uptake in carrot, all the degradation products except 7:3 FTCA were translocated from the soil to the carrot. Carrot core, peel and leaves bioconcentration factors, BCFs, were determined for 8:2 diPAP and its degradation products. Values lower than method detection limits for core and low BCFs in peel (0.025-0.042) and leaves (0.028-0.049) were achieved for 8:2 diPAP. Regarding to the degradation products, the higher their water solubility, the higher the plant translocation. In this sense, the lower the carbon chain length of PFCAs, the higher the BCFs determined (PFBA > PFHxA > PFHpA > PFOA > PFNA). In general, lower total BCFs were achieved when the total organic carbon of the soils increased. For lettuce experiments, 8:2 diPAP (0.04-0.18) and PFOA (0.28-1.57) were only determined in lettuce heart.