Determination of phthalates in juice product by high-performance liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry

Abstract

The paper presents the research results obtained after determination of the persistent organic pollutants of the environment - phthalates in domestic juice products with the use of high-performance liquid chromatography/ mass spectrometry (HPLC/MS/MS) with application of solid-phase extraction as a method of sample preparation. Selective determination of phthalates in fruit and vegetable juices by HPLC/MS/MS method has been provided through parent and child ions' monitoring that are formed during ionization of the molecules of the studied compounds in the electrostatic spray of isomers on a reversed-phase column. The analysis of the samples of juice product revealed the presence of 11 phthalates out of 13 studied in concentration range from 0.4 up to 59.26 mg/dm3. The maximum amount of phthalates was found in juices with pulp 31.9-59.26 mg/dm3 (tetrahedral package), the minimum content of phthalates 0.4 mg/dm3 was detected in flavoured beverages (polyethylene terephthalate packing) and 1 mg/dm3 in the fruit-and-vegetable nectar (glass packing). The most samples contained from 3 to 8 phthalates with total content of 0.4-5.82 mg/dm3. The most prevailing pollutants of the analyzed samples were di-n-octyl phthalate found in 100% of samples, dinonyl phthalate and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, presented in 70-80% of samples. The maximum pollution density of the juice samples was noted for di-n-octyl phthalate, di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate, diisononyl phthalate and diisobutyl phthalate.