Many of you will know why I am asking this question. There is a lot of attention recently to the dangers of the so called Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS). In essence organic fluoropolymers with very attractive commercial properties like repelling grease, water and dust particles. Making them very wide spread in consumer products and the industry as a whole.
Unfortunately they tend to mimic normal organic compounds in the body and interfere with enzyme chains and other metabolic processes in multiple ways. Their extreme stability and slow expulsion rate cause them to bioaccumulate and easily reach dangerous levels in humans and in the environment. Looking at the health effects (discovered so far) they might be on par, if not more dangerous than ingesting unstable radioisotopes or heavy metals.
Since those compounds and their products are too varied for standard lab tests to be practical. My questions is:
Is there a way to chemically detect fluorine presence in solids and liquids? I understand that is likely very difficult at room temperature, but maybe enough heat will break the fluorine-carbon bonds and could expose F to specific reactions that could be easily observed?
To clarify I am looking for a practical inexpensive method I can perform safely at home. I would like to test multiple things like food containers, pizza boxes, shoes, etc. Precision and scientific level of certainty is not an issue, just an indication is what I need. I might be able to perform the heating in some kind of securely sealed heat and pressure resistant contained that could be put into a microwave or other heat source with all the reagents inside.
I just want an indication of Florine present at more than trace quantity, not search for PFAS specifically (which is way more complex)
I have very basic chemistry knowledge, so please excuse any mistakes I could have made in my question.