Chemistry Professor Dr. Scott Simpson  presented his work titled "Using quantum chemical calculations to estimate physicochemical properties of PFAS" at the 19th Annual Workshop on Emerging HRMS & LC-MS/MS Applications in Environment Analysis & Food Safety, held Sept. 24-25 at the University at Buffalo.

This work is associated with PFAS (per/poly-fluoroalkyl substances), the infamous class of persistent organic pollutions. The substances are speculated to be in the blood of every living creature due to their ubiquitous nature; being used in applications from firefighting foams to food packaging, and even dental floss.

The research being conducted at SBU looks to utilize quantum chemical calculations to determine trends associated with these compounds, such as which are the most toxic. 

The LC-MS/MS workshop is an annual scientific meeting that alternates between North America (Canada and the U.S.) and Barcelona, Spain. The purpose of this meeting is to provide a forum for scientists from academia, industry, and government agencies to share and discuss state-of-the-art methodologies and new research findings related to the analysis of environmental and food samples using high-resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) techniques.