Environ. Sci. Technol. 2006, 40, 410
2005, Volume 39, Pages 8678-8683 Matt F. Simcik* and Kelly J. Dorweiler: Ratio of Perfluorochemical Concentrations as a Tracer of Atmospheric Deposition to Surface Waters. In the second paragraph of the Introduction we cited 6 studies by the Mabury group as evidence that atmospheric reactions involving fluorotelomer alcohols (FTOHs) would preferentially produce the odd-chain length perfluorocarboxylates. While our theory may have been sound based on the need to only oxidize the terminal carbons without stripping off any fluorines, this is in fact not what was observed by the studies referenced. In fact, the Ellis et al. (1) study indicated that an equal amount of production of the even and odd chain length perfluorocarboxylates were observed. We should note that one may still expect a greater amount of perfluoroheptanoic acid (PFHpA) to perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) in the atmosphere or remote waters since both the 8:2 and 6:2 FTOHs can produce PFHpA, but only the 8:2 can produce PFOA. This misinterpretation of Mabury’s work does not affect the conclusions of our paper, but we felt it was important to point out this oversight.
Literature Cited (1) Ellis, D. A.; Martin, J. W.; De Silva, A. O.; Mabury, S. A.; Hurley, M. D.; Sulbaek Andersen, M. P.; Wallington, T. J. Degradation of Fluorotelomer Alcohols: A Likely Atmospheric Source of Perfluorinated Carboxylic Acids. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38, 3316-3321.
ES052244V 10.1021/es052244v Published on Web 11/22/2005
