Separation and determination of phthalates by micellar electrokinetic chromatography

A method has been developed for the separation and determination of dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), di-(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and di-n-octyl phthalate (DnOP) by micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The baseline separation of phthalates was achieved by using a buffer of 100 mM sodium cholate, 50 mM borate and 15% methanol (pH 8.5). The optimized MEKC method was used to quantify the concentrations of phthalates in 11 soil samples from different regions of China. The contents of DEP, DBP and DEHP in soils were ranged 0–0.42, 0–1.43, and 0.24–2.35 mg/kg, respectively, and no DMP and DnOP was detected. The limits of detection for DMP, DEP, DBP, DEHP, and DnOP were found to be 0.050, 0.051, 0.052, 0.054, and 0.063 mg/kg, respectively. The results obtained by the MEKC method were compared with those obtained by gas chromatography with flame ionization detector (GC-FID), and a good agreement was achieved.