Determination of tetrabromobisphenol-A/S and their main derivatives in water samples by high performance liquid chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

As the most widely used brominated flame retardants (BFRs), Tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBPA) as well as its alternative Tetrabromobisphenol-S (TBBPS) and their derivatives have raised wide concerns due to their adverse effects on human health and hence the sensitive detection of those BFRs was urgently needed. Herein, a novel analytical method based on high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with inductively coupled plasma tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS) has been developed for the determination of TBBPA/S and their derivatives, including TBBPA-bis(2-hydroxyethyl ether) (TBBPA-BHEE), TBBPA-bis(allylether) (TBBPA-BAE), TBBPA-bis(glycidyl ether) (TBBPA-BGE), TBBPA-bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPA-BDBPE) and TBBPS-bis(2,3-dibromopropyl ether) (TBBPS-BDBPE) in water samples. After optimization, the TBBPA/S and their derivatives, especially the TBBPA-BAE and TBBPA-BDBPE were simultaneously and sensitively quantified by determination of bromine (m/z=79) by using the ICP-MS. The instrument limits of detection (LODs) for the TBBPA, TBBPA-BHEE, TBBPA-BGE, TBBPA-BAE, TBBPA-BDBPE, TBBPS and TBBPS-BDBPE were determined to be 0.12, 0.14, 0.19, 0.14, 0.12, 0.17 and 0.13μgL−1, respectively, which was close to or much better than the reported methods. The relative standard deviations (RSDs, n=5) of peak area and retention time were better than 2.2% and 0.2% for intra-day analysis, indicating good repeatability and high precision. The proposed method had been successfully applied for the analysis of TBBPA/S and their derivatives in water samples with satisfactory recoveries (67.7%-113%).