Degradation of perfluorinated compounds by a combination of reductive and oxidative radicals

Although much was already done on the reactions of reactive oxygen species with perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), there is still a large knowledge gap in the total understanding of these processes because of the lack of tools for reactive species (e.g., carbon dioxide radical anions, perfluorooxyl radicals) determination in complicated matrices. Therefore, we will aim in the project to develop such tools and use them to gain basic knowledge on the reactive species, primarily for studying elemental reactions between these radicals and PFAS. Both experimental and theoretical methods (DFT, ab initio) are planned to be employed for this. The main results, therefore, will be twofold: 1) gaining a better understanding of the PFAS oxidation/reduction by various oxidative and reductive radicals and 2) developing analytical tools (ideally simple and very selective) for reaching the first aim. As one of the project's outcomes, we believe that the methods developed herein can substantially improve the understanding of mechanisms and complexity of PFAS transformation in various matrices.