Sensitive determination of bisphenol A in environmental water by gas chromatography with nitrogen–phosphorus detection after cyanomethylation

A new technique is proposed for the determination of bisphenol A in environmental water. The sample preparation consists of a single-step extraction of bisphenol A from a water sample with methylene chloride and the cyanomethyl derivatization of bisphenol A. 2,2′-Biphenol is used as an internal standard. Bisphenol A and biphenol can be quantitatively converted to their corresponding cyanomethyl ethers, which are then measured by gas chromatography with nitrogen–phosphorus detection. Peak shape and quantification of bisphenol A are excellent, with linear calibration curves over a range of 0.1–100 ng/ml. The detection limit is 0.1 ng/ml in water samples. The average recovery and RSD at a concentration of 5 ng/ml are 89.3 and 4.5%, respectively. The procedure is applicable to the quantification of bisphenol A in tap water, raw water and stream water.