Simultaneous determination of nine C4–C9 alkylphenols and bisphenol A in environmental water using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

Abstract

A liquid-liquid extraction method combined with derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed for the simultaneous determination of nine C4–C9 alkylphenols (APs, including 4- tert -butylphenol, 4- n -butylphenol, 4- n -pentylphenol, 4- n -hexylphenol, 4- n -heptylphenol, 4- n -octylphenol, 4- tert -octylphenol, 4- n -nonylphenol and 4-nonylphenol) and bisphenol A (BPA) in environmental water. The derivatization time, extraction solvent, volume of extraction solvent, extraction time, extraction number, pH value of water, salt content, and concentration degree were optimized. These target compounds were quantified by internal standard method. The experimental result showed that the optimal extraction time, number, solvent volume, pH value and salt content were 5 min, 2, 30 mL, about 2 and 10 g/L, respectively, and derivatization time was 1 h at room temperature. Dichloromethane was selected as the extraction solvent and concentrated to 0.5 mL in the process of concentration. The developed method showed good linearity ( R 2 > 0.995), low limit of detection (LOD, 0.002–0.006 μg/L), and satisfactory recoveries (68.0%–122%) and low relative standard deviation (0.67%–13.7%). The method was used to analyse groundwater, surface water, seawater and sewage samples in Dongying City located at Yellow River Estuary, and 4-nonylphenol and BPA in these water samples were detected. However, these measured values were below their restrictive values of relevant directives at home and abroad. A diagram shows a liquid-liquid extraction combined with derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method for the rapid determination of C4-C9 alkylphenols (4- tert -butylphenol, 4- n -butylphenol, 4- n -pentylphenol, 4- n -hexylphenol, 4- n -heptylphenol, 4- n -octylphenol, 4- tert -octylphenol, 4- n -nonylphenol and 4-nonylphenol) and bisphenol A in the environmental water.