An Improved Method for the Derivatization of Phenolic Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals

An efficient and reliable derivatization method based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was improved for the analysis of four phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), including 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), 4-cumylphenol (4-CP), 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) and bisphenol A (BPA). A series of derivatization conditions, such as reaction solvent, amount of derivatization reagent, derivatization temperature and derivatization time, were improved. The optimized derivatization procedure could react very fast with the four phenolic EDCs, and the derivatized compounds had the high volatility, adequate stability and solubility. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantification (LOQ) for derivatized phenolic EDCs ranged from 0.1 to 0.2 pg/μL and from 2 to 5 pg/μL, respectively. The results indicated the high performance of the improved method.