Simple and sensitive fluorimetric method for determination of environmental hormone bisphenol A based on its inhibitory effect on the redox reaction between peroxyl radical and rhodamine 6G

Peroxyl radical produced by Fenton-like reagent (Fe(III) + H2O2) oxidizes Rhodamine 6G and produces the quenching of its fluorescence. It is also found that bisphenol A has an inhibitory effect on the redox reaction. Based on this observation, an inhibitory kinetic fluorimetric method is reported for the determination of trace bisphenol A. The fluorescent inhibition of rhodamine 6G is measured by fix-time method. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the detection limit and the quantification limit for bisphenol A is 2.0 and 6.7 ng mL−1, respectively; and the linear range of the determination is 0.024–0.4 μg mL−1. The proposed method has been used for the determination of bisphenol A in environmental waters, river bottom sediment, generic soil, polycarbonate products and teeth filling samples with recoveries of 92.5–110.0%. The possible mechanism of the reaction has also been discussed.