Polyfluorinated sulfonamides (FSAs, F(CF2)nSO2NR1R2) are present in the atmosphere and may serve as the source of perfluorocarboxylates (PFCAs, CF3(CF2)nCOO–) in remote locations through long-range atmospheric transport and oxidation. Density functional theory (DFT) molecular orbital theory calculations were carried out to investigate OH radical-initiated atmospheric oxidation of a series of sulfonamides, F(CF2)nSO2NR1R2 (n = 4, 6, 8). Geometry optimizations of the reactants as well as the intermediates, transition states, and products were performed at the MPWB1K level with the 6-31G+(d,p) basis set. Single-point energy calculations were carried out at the MPWB1K/6-311+G(3df,2p) level of theory. The OH radical-initiated reaction mechanism is given and confirms that the OH addition to the sulfone double bond producing perfluoroalkanesulfonic acid directly cannot occur in the general atmosphere. Canonical variational transition-state (CVT) theory with small curvature tunneling (SCT) contribution was used to predict the rate constants. The overall rate constants were determined, k(T) (N-EtFBSA + OH) = (3.21 × 10−12) exp(–584.19/T), k(T) (N-EtFHxSA + OH) = (3.21 × 10−12) exp(–543.24/T), and k(T) (N-EtFOSA + OH) = (2.17 × 10−12) exp(–504.96/T) cm3 molecule−1 s−1, over the possible atmospheric temperature range of 180–370 K, indicating that the length of the F(CF2)n group has no large effect on the reactivity of FSAs. Results show that the atmospheric lifetime of FSAs determined by OH radicals will be 20–40 days, which agrees well with the experimental values (20–50 days), 20 thus they may contribute to the burden of perfluorinated pollution in remote regions.
