Solid-phase extraction/high-performance liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry to determine endocrine disruptors in water samples

A method for determining a group of endocrine-disrupting compounds in water samples was developed. This method was based on high-performance liquid chromatography-(electrospray) mass spectrometry (HPLC-(ESI)MS), working in negative ionization (NI) mode. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) with 200 mg Lichrolut EN was used to preconcentrate the water samples. The performance of the method was tested with several environmental water samples such as river, marine and influent and effluent water from a sewage treatment plant (STP). The limits of detection (LODs) of the method were between 0.001 and 0.3 mug L-1 under selective-ion monitoring (SIM) acquisition mode for 500 ml. of river, marine and STP effluent water samples and between 0.01 and 3 mug L-1 for 100 mL of STP influent water. We determined some endocrine disruptors, such as diuron, bisphenol A (BPA), estrone, 4-tert-butylphenol (4-t-BP), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP) and pentachlorophenol (PCP), in several water samples at levels of mug L-1.