Determination of trace amounts of bisphenol F, bisphenol A and their diglycidyl ethers in wastewater by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry Original Research Article

A simple and sensitive method for the determination of trace amounts of bisphenol F, bisphenol A and their diglycidyl ethers in wastewater is proposed. The method involves a liquid–liquid extraction (LLE) procedure using trichloromethane followed by a silylation step. Identification and quantification was performed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) using an HP1-MS column. The retention times were 6.59 and 7.02 min for BPF and BPA silylated, respectively, 8.30, 9.10 and 10.13 min for the three isomers of BFDGE and 11.12 min for BADGE. A clean-up is not necessary using SIM mode. Deuterated anthracene (2H10-anthracene) was used as an internal standard. The detection limits obtained were 0.02, 0.006, 0.13 and 0.09 μg l−1 for BPF, BPA, BFDGE and BADGE, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of these chemicals, as indicators of contamination by epoxy resins, in different types of spiked urban wastewater from Granada and Melilla (Spain) at concentration levels ranging from 0.06 to 2.50 μg l−1 for bisphenol F, 0.02 to 0.50 μg l−1 for bisphenol A, 0.45 to 50.00 μg l−1 for BFDGE and 0.30 to 50.00 μg l−1 for BADGE.