Automated on-line column-switching high performance liquid chromatography isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry method for the quantification of bisphenol A, bisphenol F, bisphenol S, and 11 other phenols in urine

• Human exposure to BPS and BPF is expected to increase due to regulations on BPA.
• We developed a highly sensitive and selective method to measure BPA, BPS, and BPF.
• The same method could be used for the quantification of 11 other phenols in urine.
• The method is high-throughput and can be used for epidemiological studies.

Human exposure to bisphenol A (BPA) is widespread. However, in recent years, bisphenol analogs such as bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol F (BPF) are replacing BPA in the production of some consumer products. Because human exposure to these alternative bisphenols may occur, biomonitoring of these bisphenol analogs is warranted. In the present study, we developed and validated a sensitive and selective method that uses on-line solid phase extraction coupled to high performance liquid chromatography-isotope dilution tandem mass spectrometry with peak focusing to measure BPA, BPF, BPS, and 11 other environmental phenols in urine. The method required a small amount of sample (100 μL) and minimal sample pretreatment. The limits of detection were 0.03 ng/mL (BPS), 0.06 ng/mL (BPF), 0.10 ng/mL (BPA), and ranged from 0.1 ng/mL to 1.0 ng/mL for the other 11 phenols. In 100 urine samples collected in 2009–2012 from a convenience group of anonymous adults in the United States, of the three bisphenols, we detected BPA at the highest frequency and median concentrations (95%, 0.72 ng/mL), followed by BPS (78%, 0.13 ng/mL) and BPF (55%, 0.08 ng/mL). This sensitive, rugged, and labor and cost-effective method could be used for the analysis of large number of samples for epidemiologic studies.