Abstract:

A method for the determination of tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A in environmental water using carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes as solid-phase extraction sorbent and liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was established. Comparison of three nanomaterials including multiwalled carbon nanotubes, C60 and carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes used as solid-phase extraction sorbents was made. After preconcentration by solid-phase extraction, tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A were separated on a Thermo Scientific Hypersil C18 column (150 mm×4.6 mm, 3 μm) and then detected by tandem mass spectrometry in negative electrospray ionization (ESI) mode. The results showed a good linear response in the concentration range of 0.02-1.0 mg/L for tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A, and the limits of detection (S/N=3) were 0.04 μg/L and 0.2 μg/L for tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A, respectively. The application of the proposed approach has been carried out for the determination of tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A in spiked lake water and sea water samples. The recoveries varied from 82% to 99% with the relative standard deviations below 5.0%. The proposed method can be used for the determination of tetrabromobisphenol A and bisphenol A at trace level in complex environmental samples.

Key words: bisphenol A, carboxyl-functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes, environmental water, solid-phase extraction (SPE), tetrabromobisphenol A