Perfluorocarboxylic acids and their anions (PFCAs), such as perfluorooctanate (C7F15C(O)O−), have been generally recognized to be global pollutants and are believed to persist in the environment. Kinetic data for reactions of sulfate anion radicals (SO4−) with PFCAs are needed to evaluate the residence times of PFCAs in the environment, but no kinetic data have been reported, except for the rate constant for the reaction of SO4− with trifluoroacetate (CF3C(O)O−) (k1). In this study, using the fact that PFCAs react with SO4− to form shorter chain PFCAs, we determined rates relative to k1 of the reactions of photolytically generated SO4− with two short‐chain PFCAs, pentafluoropropionate (C2F5C(O)O−; k2) and heptafluorobutyrate (C3F7C(O)O−; k3), along with conversion ratios for conversion of C2F5C(O)O− into CF3C(O)O− (α) and conversion of C3F7C(O)O− into C2F5C(O)O− (β) and CF3C(O)O− (γ) at 298 K. Values of k1, k2, or k3 might change over the course of reaction with increasing ionic strength. Nevertheless, if the values of k1/k2, k2/k3, α, β, and γ remain almost constant during the reaction, a simple equation involving relative rates, such as k1/k2, can be used to relate the concentrations of C3F7C(O)O−, C2F5C(O)O−, and CF3C(O)O−. We compared the relative rates, such as k1/k2, and the conversion ratios determined from various experimental runs with different initial conditions to check whether relative rates and conversion ratios remained almost constant during each experimental run. The values of k1/k2, k2/k3, α, β, and γ seemed to remain almost constant, which facilitated determination of k2/k1 = 0.89 ± 0.07, k3/k1 = 0.84 ± 0.08, α = 0.88 ± 0.05, β = 0.75 ± 0.05, and γ = 0.17 ± 0.02. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 39: 276–288, 2007