Development and validation of an analytical methodology based on solvent microextraction and UHPLC-MS/MS for determining bisphenols in honeys from different botanical origins

Abstract

A new analytical methodology was proposed to determine fourteen bisphenols in honeys from different botanical origins using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. A fast, efficient, environmentally-friendly and simple sample treatment (recoveries between 81% and 116%; matrix effect <20% for all studied compounds except for bisphenol E, F and S) was proposed, which involved a solvent microextraction with acetone and a small volume/amount of 1-hexanol. Chromatographic analysis (< 15 min) was performed in a Kinetex EVO C18 column under gradient elution mode. The method was validated in terms of selectivity, limits of detection (0.2–1.5 μg/kg) and quantification (0.5–4.7 μg/kg), linearity, matrix effect, trueness, and precision (relative standard deviation <17%). Finally, thirty honey samples were analyzed, revealing the presence of residues of nine bisphenols in some of them. However, quantification was possible only in two cases for bisphenol A, with a concentration of approximately 13 μg/kg.