Determination of alkylphenols and bisphenol A in sea environment by GC/MS

Abstract

A sample preparation for the determination of alkylphenols and bisphenol A in surface seawater by GC/MS were studied. We improved the methods for the conditioning and elution of solid-phase extraction (SPE) in order to obtain accurate values by an easier method. We devised a method for conditioning the absorbents in order to prevent contamination from the used water. The error was less than 1 percent compared with that of the usual conditioning method. We designed an elution method in which the dispersion is small and the recovery is better than that for many other reported methods. We measured the surface water in Tokyo Bay and off the coast of Chiba. In Tokyo Bay, nonylphenol (mix) and bisphenol A were detected from tens to hundreds ng/l. The results of measurements of the surface water off the coast of Chiba showed that the concentrations of the subject compounds were no more than one tenth compared with samples from Tokyo Bay, although several subject compounds were detected.