Beyond PFAS: How Analytical Labs Are Tackling Emerging Contaminants

A Catalyst for Broader Contaminant Surveillance

PFAS, often called “forever chemicals,” have reshaped how laboratories approach environmental testing. The widespread use of these chemicals, which persist in the environment, have been linked to health risks, driving stricter regulations and expanded monitoring requirements worldwide.

However, the real shift lies in what PFAS have revealed: the limitations of traditional targeted analysis. With thousands of PFAS variants and many more emerging contaminants outside of regulatory lists, labs can no longer rely solely on predefined compound panels.

Advanced liquid chromatography–high-resolution accurate mass mass spectrometry (LC-HRAM-MS) workflows are addressing this gap. Laboratories can detect both known PFAS and previously unidentified compounds by combining targeted quantification with non-targeted screening in a single injection, according to the Thermo Fisher Scientific article “Advancing PFAS Detection in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing with LC-HRAM-MS.” This hybrid approach not only improves sensitivity—down to sub-part-per-billion (sub-ppb) levels—but also expands the analytical scope beyond PFAS to include a broader range of extractables and leachables (E&L), such as additives, degradation products, and contaminants from packaging materials.

From Target Lists to Total Chemical Awareness

The rise of contaminants like endocrine disruptors, active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), and personal care product residues demands a paradigm shift. These compounds vary widely in structure, polarity, and concentration, making single-method approaches inadequate.

High-resolution accurate mass (HRAM) technology captures full-scan data, allowing laboratories to screen for thousands of compounds simultaneously while maintaining quantitative performance. This means analysts are no longer limited to what they expect to find; they can also uncover what they didn’t anticipate.

Non-targeted analysis plays a critical role here. A single LC-HRAM-MS run can identify non-targeted PFAS and related compounds beyond those found on standard lists, offering a more complete risk profile, according to the article “Bridging the PFAS Oversight Gap: Advanced LC-HRAM-MS Strategies for E&L Testing” in Separation Science. The same principle applies to other contaminant classes, including endocrine-active substances and pharmaceutical residues, which often go undetected in routine workflows.

Equally important is retrospective analysis. With HRAM data, laboratories can revisit previously acquired datasets to screen for compounds that were not initially targeted, leveraging the technique’s ability to capture comprehensive, high-resolution spectral information that can later be matched to newly regulated or emerging contaminants. This enables retrospective analysis, where previously unassigned spectral features or data points can be re-examined and confidently identified as new contaminants once reference data, markers, or regulatory lists become available—without the need to reanalyze the original samples. This capability is a game-changer in a regulatory landscape that evolves faster than traditional testing cycles.

Modernizing Laboratories with Intelligent Workflows

Modern LC-HRAM-MS platforms integrate hardware, software, and consumables designed to minimize background interference and maximize confidence in results. For example, PFAS-specific kits and delay columns reduce contamination from analytical systems themselves, enabling more reliable data. More importantly, laboratories are shifting from reactive compliance to proactive preparedness. As regulatory frameworks expand beyond PFAS into broader contaminant categories, having flexible, scalable methods in place helps ensure readiness for future requirements.

This forward-looking approach is especially critical to sectors like pharmaceutical development, where E&L testing must account for a wide range of potential contaminants originating from materials, processes, and environments.