At a glance
| Chemical name | Trifluoroacetic acid (IUPAC: 2,2,2-trifluoroacetic acid); the dissolved anion is trifluoroacetate (TFA⁻). Synonyms/abbreviation: TFA. PubChem CID 6422; EC number 200-929-3 |
| CAS number | 76-05-1 |
| Molecular formula | CF₃COOH (C₂HF₃O₂) |
| Molecular weight | 114.02 g/mol |
| Chemical family | Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS) — ultrashort-chain (C2) perfluorocarboxylic acid; the shortest-chain PFCA that exists |
| Volatility / off-gassing | Not a VOC and not an off-gas. The pure substance is a colourless, fuming, strongly corrosive liquid acid, but environmental exposure is to the trace dissolved salt (trifluoroacetate), which is non-volatile and highly water-soluble — it does not evaporate from bedroom materials into the air |
| Where you encounter it | Drinking water (often the most abundant single PFAS present), rainwater, groundwater, surface water, and food. Formed environmentally from the breakdown of fluorinated refrigerants (HFCs/HFOs), fluorinated pesticides, and fluorinated pharmaceuticals, plus direct industrial release. Not a mattress, foam, or bedroom-air source |
| Activated carbon capture | Not applicable for air-phase capture. In water, granular activated carbon is largely ineffective for TFA; only reverse osmosis reliably removes it, with ion exchange giving partial removal. Peer-reviewed |
Regulatory & certification status
Where TFA stands across the major regulatory systems and the certifications a bedroom product might carry. TFA is unusual: it is one of the most widespread PFAS by mass, yet it sits almost entirely outside enforceable limits. Where a jurisdiction has no specific measure, that is stated plainly rather than left blank.
| European Union | TFA is deliberately excluded from the enforceable "Sum of 20 PFAS" parametric value (0.1 µg/L) in the recast Drinking Water Directive (Directive (EU) 2020/2184), which applies from 12 January 2026; it is not one of the 20 listed analytes and falls only under the broad, indicative "PFAS Total" value (0.5 µg/L). Separately, an ECHA Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) opinion in 2026 moved to classify TFA and its inorganic salts as persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT). A WHO evaluation is expected around 2027. Regulatory — EUR-Lex · ECHA Speculation — the exact scope/date of the 2026 ECHA RAC PMT opinion is drawn from a secondary industry source and not verified against the primary ECHA opinion |
| United States | No federal drinking-water Maximum Contaminant Level for TFA, and it is not included in EPA drinking-water PFAS test methods 537.1 or 533 — so routine PFAS monitoring does not even detect it. TFA is not on the US EPA's list of six PFAS with 2024 MCLs. It is NOT listed under California Proposition 65 (note: the unrelated trichloroacetic acid is Prop 65-listed — the two must not be conflated). ATSDR has no toxicological profile for TFA. Regulatory — US EPA · OEHHA Prop 65 list |
| Canada | No TFA-specific drinking-water guideline was confirmed in the sources reviewed. TFA falls within the broad class of PFAS that Environment and Climate Change Canada has been assessing under its PFAS class approach, but no individual value for trifluoroacetate has been established. Inferred — from the absence of a TFA-specific listing in the reviewed Canadian PFAS materials; a dedicated guideline could not be confirmed |
| Australia | No TFA-specific health-based guideline value in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines. TFA is not among the individually scheduled PFAS (PFOA, PFOS, PFHxS) under Australian regulatory action; it sits, at most, within general PFAS information-gathering. Inferred — from the absence of a TFA-specific value in reviewed Australian PFAS guidance |
| United Kingdom | No UK drinking-water standard specific to TFA. TFA is not individually named in GB REACH restriction activity; it would be treated, at most, under broader PFAS monitoring guidance rather than a dedicated limit. Inferred — from the absence of a TFA-specific UK measure in reviewed sources |
| National guidance values (non-binding) | Several European agencies have set precautionary, non-enforceable drinking-water guidance for TFA — and they disagree by roughly 27-fold. Germany's Umweltbundesamt (UBA, 2020) set a health-related value of 60 µg/L with a precautionary target of ≤ 10 µg/L; Denmark uses 9 µg/L; and the Netherlands' RIVM (2023) derived an indicative 2.2 µg/L. This 60-versus-2.2 µg/L spread across neighbouring countries is the clearest signal of how unsettled the health basis for TFA still is. Regulatory — UBA · RIVM |
| Hazard classification (the concentrated acid) | ECHA's harmonised classification (CLP Annex VI) for trifluoroacetic acid is Acute Tox. 4 (H332, harmful if inhaled), Skin Corr. 1A (H314, causes severe skin burns) and Aquatic Chronic 3 (H412). Important context: this describes the neat, concentrated industrial acid handled in laboratories and manufacturing, not the trace trifluoroacetate residues found in drinking water — a bottle of the reagent and a glass of tap water are chemically the same anion at wildly different concentrations. Regulatory — ECHA |
| Certifications | No bedroom-product certification screens for TFA. CertiPUR-US targets ozone depleters, specific flame retardants, heavy metals, formaldehyde, phthalates, and VOC emissions in polyurethane foam — not a water-borne perfluorinated acid. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 added a total-fluorine limit as a general PFAS indicator in 2024, but that is a bulk-fluorine textile screen, not a TFA-specific listing. GREENGUARD is a low-VOC emissions certification and would not capture a non-volatile compound like TFA at all. Inferred — from the published scopes of these certifications, none of which name TFA |
| The 72-hour test window | Missed entirely. TFA is a non-volatile, water-soluble contaminant, so a short (~72-hour) chamber emissions test — designed to capture off-gassing VOCs from a mattress or foam — does not detect it. TFA is a drinking-water exposure measured by targeted aqueous LC-MS/MS analysis, not a bedroom-air exposure. A chamber test could return a clean bill and tell you nothing about your TFA exposure. Inferred — from the compound's non-volatility versus the VOC focus of short chamber tests |
What it is
Trifluoroacetic acid is acetic acid with all three methyl hydrogens replaced by fluorine: CF₃COOH, molecular weight 114.02. That single substitution turns a mild vinegar-like acid into one of the strongest simple carboxylic acids and, more importantly for the environment, into the shortest possible perfluorocarboxylic acid — an ultrashort-chain C2 PFAS. Peer-reviewed The pure reagent is a colourless, fuming, corrosive liquid, but in the environment TFA exists almost entirely as its dissolved salt, trifluoroacetate, at trace concentrations.
What makes TFA matter is the combination of three properties. It is extremely persistent — its three carbon–fluorine bonds are essentially unbreakable under environmental conditions, so it does not degrade. It is extremely mobile — small and highly water-soluble, it travels freely through soil and water and is not filtered out by natural processes. And it is a terminal degradation product: fluorinated refrigerants (HFCs and their HFO replacements), fluorinated pesticides, and fluorinated pharmaceuticals all break down, eventually, into TFA and then stop there. The result is a compound that only accumulates. Arp and colleagues (2024) argue that TFA is rising irreversibly across rain, soil, plants, food, and human serum, and frame it as a planetary-boundary threat for novel entities. Peer-reviewed
Where you encounter it
This is the honest part, and it is worth stating plainly: TFA is not a mattress off-gas and it is not in your bedroom air. It does not evaporate out of foam, fabric, or adhesives the way solvents and volatile flame-retardant residues do. If you came here from a page about what your mattress emits, TFA is a different kind of exposure entirely — it reaches you through what you drink and eat, not through what you sleep on.
TFA belongs in this Atlas because total chemical body burden is set by the whole environment, and TFA is frequently the largest single PFAS contribution to it. In a study of 13 German drinking-water sources, Neuwald and colleagues (2022) found the ultrashort-chain trio of TFA, PFPrA, and trifluoromethanesulfonic acid accounted for up to 98% of the total measured PFAS mass — while conventional PFAS screening (AOF and the TOP assay) largely missed them. Peer-reviewed TFA is very often the most abundant PFAS in tap water, and simultaneously one of the least measured.
The sources are diffuse and global. Freeling and colleagues (2020) analysed 1,187 precipitation samples across eight German sites and found a precipitation-weighted mean of 0.335 µg/L, implying on the order of 68 tonnes of TFA deposited on Germany from rainfall each year. Peer-reviewed Joerss and Menger (2024) identified fluorinated pesticides as a major TFA source, with a TFA-formation potential of up to 83 kg/km²/yr and higher TFA in groundwater beneath agricultural land. Peer-reviewed Near point sources the numbers climb sharply: Chen and colleagues (2018), studying fluorochemical manufacturing parks in Fuxin, China, measured TFA one to two orders of magnitude above other perfluorocarboxylic acids in every environmental matrix, with short-chain PFCAs still around 3,000 ng/L some 38 km away. Peer-reviewed
What the research says
The peer-reviewed record on TFA is strong on occurrence and persistence and thinner on human health at environmental doses. The occurrence findings above — Neuwald 2022, Freeling 2020, Joerss 2024, and Chen 2018 — converge on a consistent picture: TFA is everywhere, it dominates PFAS mass in many waters, its sources are broad and growing, and standard PFAS analytics do not see it. Peer-reviewed
On treatment, the pivotal work is Scheurer and colleagues (2017), who traced TFA through the water cycle after an industrial discharge exceeded 100 µg/L in a German river, producing more than 20 µg/L in bank-filtration tap water downstream. Critically, they tested what removed it: ozonation and granular activated carbon failed, while reverse osmosis achieved complete removal and ion exchange gave partial removal. Peer-reviewed This is the single most practically important finding for anyone worried about TFA — the ordinary "PFAS" carbon filters that work on longer chains do not work on this one.
On health, the strongest signals come from animal studies pointing to reproductive and liver effects, summarised in the persistence-and-risk framing of Arp and colleagues (2024). Peer-reviewed Human health effects at realistic environmental concentrations remain poorly characterised — which is precisely why the national guidance values disagree so widely and why a WHO evaluation is awaited. Inferred — the ~27-fold spread in national guidance reflects genuine scientific uncertainty about the low-dose health basis
What helps reduce exposure
Reverse osmosis is the one intervention that reliably works. Because TFA is tiny and highly soluble, a point-of-use reverse-osmosis system is the meaningful household fix — in the Scheurer 2017 case study it was the only method that achieved complete removal. Peer-reviewed If your concern is specifically TFA (or ultrashort-chain PFAS generally), reverse osmosis at the kitchen tap is the option to look at.
Ion exchange can help partially. Anion-exchange resin removed some TFA in the same study, though less completely than reverse osmosis. Peer-reviewed It is a supporting measure, not a standalone solution for TFA.
Know your water source. TFA is highest downstream of fluorochemical manufacturing and beneath intensively farmed land where fluorinated pesticides are used. If you are in such a region, that context matters more than any product label — and because routine PFAS testing does not measure TFA, you may need to ask specifically for ultrashort-chain analysis.
What does NOT help
- Granular activated carbon and "PFAS" pitcher or faucet filters. The carbon filters marketed for PFAS are designed around longer, more adsorbable chains. TFA is too small and too soluble to be captured meaningfully — GAC failed in the Scheurer 2017 treatment tests. Peer-reviewed
- Ozonation. Advanced oxidation by ozone did not remove TFA in the same study; the C–F bonds are not broken by it. Peer-reviewed
- Conventional biological water treatment. TFA is a dead-end product — microbes do not degrade it, so standard wastewater and drinking-water biological processes pass it straight through. Inferred — from TFA's status as a terminal, non-biodegradable degradation product
- Boiling. Boiling does not destroy TFA and, by evaporating water, can slightly concentrate it in the remaining liquid. Inferred — consistent with PFAS behaviour generally; TFA is non-volatile as the salt
Open research questions
- Human health effects at environmental concentrations are poorly characterised. The strongest signals — reproductive and liver effects — come from animal studies, and a WHO evaluation is expected around 2027. Speculation re: low-dose human effects; established only at higher doses in animal studies
- The roughly 27-fold divergence in national guidance values (Germany 60 µg/L versus the Netherlands 2.2 µg/L) reflects an unsettled health basis; what evidence would drive convergence is unclear. Inferred from the current fractured guidance landscape
- Whether TFA should be counted as a regulated "PFAS" at all — its exclusion from the EU Sum-of-20 and from EPA methods is as much a policy line as a scientific one. Speculation — the scientific-versus-political basis for the exclusion is contested
- Irreversibility and planetary-boundary thresholds: if TFA only accumulates, what standing environmental concentration becomes a problem, and when? Speculation
- Source apportionment — the relative contributions of F-gases, pesticides, pharmaceuticals, and direct industrial release — is region-specific and incompletely resolved. Inferred from the multiple documented but unquantified source categories
Where you meet Tfa across your home
The same compound turns up in more than one place you live. Here's where it shows up in Embr — each links to the full breakdown for that part of your home.
What actually reduces your exposure
- TFA reaches you through drinking water and food, not your mattress — it is not a bedroom-air exposure.
- If you want to reduce it at the tap, a point-of-use reverse-osmosis system is the only method shown to remove it; carbon filters and boiling do not.
- Check your utility's Consumer Confidence Report, though most do not yet test for TFA at all.
How it’s regulated, by region
| Region | Status | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| European Union | Unregulated (excluded) | TFA is excluded from the Drinking Water Directive 'sum of 20 PFAS' (0.1 µg/L); it falls only under the broad 'PFAS Total' 0.5 µg/L parameter. ECHA's RAC moved to classify TFA and its salts as PMT in 2026. |
| United States (EPA) | Unregulated | No federal MCL; not on EPA drinking-water Methods 537.1/533 or UCMR 5. |
| National guidance | Divergent | Non-binding drinking-water guidance values differ ~27x: Germany 60 µg/L, Denmark 9 µg/L, Netherlands 2.2 µg/L. |
Citations
- Neuwald IJ, Hübner D, Wiegand HL, Valkov V, Borchers U, Nödler K, Scheurer M, Hale SE, Arp HPH, Zahn D (2022). Ultra-short-chain PFASs in the sources of German drinking water: prioritized analytes cover up to 98% of the total PFAS mass. Environmental Science & Technology, 56(10):6380-6390. PMID 35507024. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.1c07949 Peer-reviewed — ultrashort trio = up to 98% of total PFAS mass
- Scheurer M, Nödler K, Freeling F, Janda J, Happel O, Riegel M, Müller U, Storck FR, Fleig M, Lange FT, Brunsch A, Brauch HJ (2017). Small, mobile, persistent: trifluoroacetate in the water cycle. Water Research, 126:460-471. PMID 28992593. DOI 10.1016/j.watres.2017.09.045 Peer-reviewed — only reverse osmosis fully removed TFA; GAC and ozonation failed
- Freeling F, Behringer D, Heydel F, Scheurer M, Ternes TA, Nödler K (2020). Trifluoroacetate in precipitation: deriving a benchmark data set. Environmental Science & Technology, 54(18):11210-11219. PMID 32806887. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.0c02910 Peer-reviewed — 1,187 precipitation samples; ~68 t/yr wet deposition for Germany
- Joerss H, Menger F (2024). Fluorinated pesticides as a source of trifluoroacetic acid in the environment. Environment International, 193:109061. PMID 39442319. DOI 10.1016/j.envint.2024.109061 Peer-reviewed — pesticides a major TFA source; up to 83 kg/km²/yr formation potential
- Chen H, Yao Y, Zhao Z, Wang Y, Wang Q, Ren C, Wang B, Sun H, Alder AC, Kannan K (2018). Multimedia distribution and transfer of PFASs surrounding two fluorochemical manufacturing facilities in Fuxin, China. Environmental Science & Technology, 52(15):8263-8271. PMID 29947229. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.8b00544 Peer-reviewed — TFA 1–2 orders of magnitude above other PFCAs near manufacturing
- Arp HPH, Gredelj A, Glüge J, Scheringer M, Cousins IT (2024). The global threat from the irreversible accumulation of trifluoroacetic acid (TFA). Environmental Science & Technology, 58(45):19925-19935. PMID 39475534. DOI 10.1021/acs.est.4c06189 Peer-reviewed — TFA rising irreversibly; animal reproductive and liver toxicity
- Umweltbundesamt (German Environment Agency, UBA) (2020). Health-related guidance value for trifluoroacetate in drinking water of 60 µg/L, with a precautionary target of ≤ 10 µg/L. umweltbundesamt.de Regulatory
- Rijksinstituut voor Volksgezondheid en Milieu (RIVM, Netherlands) (2023). Indicative drinking-water level for trifluoroacetic acid of 2.2 µg/L. rivm.nl Regulatory
- European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). Harmonised classification (CLP Annex VI) for trifluoroacetic acid, CAS 76-05-1 — Acute Tox. 4 (H332), Skin Corr. 1A (H314), Aquatic Chronic 3 (H412); and the 2026 RAC opinion to classify TFA and its inorganic salts as persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT). echa.europa.eu Regulatory
- European Union (2020). Directive (EU) 2020/2184 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (recast Drinking Water Directive), applicable from 12 January 2026 — Sum of 20 PFAS 0.1 µg/L, PFAS Total 0.5 µg/L; TFA not among the 20 listed analytes. eur-lex.europa.eu Regulatory
Frequently asked questions
Is TFA in my mattress or bedroom air?
No. Trifluoroacetic acid is not a mattress off-gas or a bedroom-air compound. It is a non-volatile, highly water-soluble salt, so it does not evaporate out of foam or fabric the way solvents and flame-retardant residues do. TFA reaches you through drinking water, rain, and food — an environmental and whole-body exposure rather than a sleep-surface one. It belongs in this Atlas because total chemical body burden is set by the whole environment, not only by the bedroom, and TFA is frequently the single most abundant PFAS people are exposed to.
Why is TFA a "forever chemical" if the molecule is so small?
Because the persistence of PFAS comes from the carbon–fluorine bond, not from chain length. TFA is the shortest-chain perfluorocarboxylic acid — just two carbons, CF₃COOH — but its three C–F bonds are among the strongest single bonds in organic chemistry. Nothing in ordinary environmental conditions or conventional water treatment breaks them, so once TFA forms it effectively stays forever. And the amount keeps climbing: TFA is the dead-end breakdown product of fluorinated refrigerants (HFCs and HFOs), fluorinated pesticides, and fluorinated pharmaceuticals, so as those degrade, environmental TFA rises irreversibly worldwide.
Is TFA regulated?
Barely. There is no US federal drinking-water limit for TFA, and it is not captured by EPA PFAS methods 537.1 or 533. In the EU it is deliberately excluded from the recast Drinking Water Directive's enforceable "Sum of 20 PFAS" value (0.1 µg/L) and falls only under the broad "PFAS Total" value (0.5 µg/L). A handful of non-binding national guidance values exist and disagree sharply — Germany's UBA sets 60 µg/L (with a precautionary target of 10), Denmark 9 µg/L, and the Netherlands' RIVM 2.2 µg/L, a roughly 27-fold spread. In 2026 an ECHA committee moved to classify TFA and its inorganic salts as persistent, mobile and toxic (PMT). California Prop 65 does not list TFA (it lists the unrelated trichloroacetic acid — do not confuse the two).
Can a water filter remove TFA?
Only reverse osmosis reliably reduces TFA. Because the molecule is tiny, highly soluble, and poorly adsorbed, ordinary granular activated carbon — including most pitcher and faucet "PFAS" filters designed for longer-chain PFAS — does little for it, and ozonation and conventional biological treatment do not remove it either. Boiling does not help and can slightly concentrate it. In one German case study, only reverse osmosis achieved complete removal; ion exchange gave partial removal. For a household worried specifically about TFA, a point-of-use reverse-osmosis system is the meaningful intervention.
Related compounds
Embr is a sleep environment company researching the chemistry of the bedroom. See the methodology page for how this Atlas tags claims by evidence strength. For broader context on PFAS exposure pathways, see non-toxic bedroom and water filters compared.
Last reviewed 2026-07-14. If you find a factual error, contact us.