Acidity-Driven Spontaneous Degradation of Trifluoroacetic Acid at Droplet Air–Water Interfaces

Abstract Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), an ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, is increasingly detected in the environment and has raised widespread concern because of its negative effects on health and ecosystems. However, whether TFA can degrade naturally in the environment remains unresolved. Here, we report the spontaneous degradation of TFA at the air–water interface of droplets, yielding F– and fluorine-containing transformation products, including CHF3O, CF3O2H, and CH2F2O2. The extent of degradation is strongly dependent on droplet acidity, with the F– yield at pH 10 being 12-fold higher than at pH 5. Density functional theory calculations reveal a mechanism favored by alkaline conditions and oxygen in which interfacial decarboxylation triggers sequential oxidation and defluorination. These findings identify the air–water interface of pH-regulated droplets as a reactive microenvironment for spontaneous TFA degradation, offering new insights into the environmental transformation of ultrashort-chain PFAS.

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Publication Details

Journal
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Published
2026-10-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6c14844
Primary Topic
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Acidity-Driven Spontaneous Degradation of Trifluoroacetic Acid at Droplet Air–Water Interfaces

Zhongyu Guo, Haiping Xiong, Yunqian Chen, Wanqi Wu et al.
4 links
Journal of the American Chemical Society
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
article

Acidity-Driven Spontaneous Degradation of Trifluoroacetic Acid at Droplet Air–Water Interfaces

Zhongyu Guo, Haiping Xiong, Yunqian Chen, Wanqi Wu, Xinke Wang, Liwu Zhang, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Qing X. Li, Jianmin Chen, Jingxin Lin, Christian George, Sihan Liu, Runqi Zhang, Zhengxiang Sun
article en

Abstract

Abstract Trifluoroacetic acid (TFA), an ultrashort-chain per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, is increasingly detected in the environment and has raised widespread concern because of its negative effects on health and ecosystems. However, whether TFA can degrade naturally in the environment remains unresolved. Here, we report the spontaneous degradation of TFA at the air–water interface of droplets, yielding F– and fluorine-containing transformation products, including CHF3O, CF3O2H, and CH2F2O2. The extent of degradation is strongly dependent on droplet acidity, with the F– yield at pH 10 being 12-fold higher than at pH 5. Density functional theory calculations reveal a mechanism favored by alkaline conditions and oxygen in which interfacial decarboxylation triggers sequential oxidation and defluorination. These findings identify the air–water interface of pH-regulated droplets as a reactive microenvironment for spontaneous TFA degradation, offering new insights into the environmental transformation of ultrashort-chain PFAS.

Journal of the American Chemical Society
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Fudan University (CN), Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique (MA), Institut de Recherches sur la Catalyse et l'Environnement de Lyon (FR), Fuzhou University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 24%
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances research
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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