Biomonitoring method for bisphenol A in human urine by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry

• Sensitive and selective method for BPA in human urine developed and validated.
• Mono-glucuronide and mono-sulphate metabolites included in total BPA measurement.
• Accuracy and precision within ±20% in both synthetic urine and human urine.
• Frozen storage stability in matrix established at 218 days.
• Validated method was successfully applied to a large biomonitoring study.

An ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for the measurement of total bisphenol A in human urine was developed and validated. The method utilized liquid/liquid extraction with 1-chlorobutane and a human urine aliquot size of 800 μL. Chromatography was performed on an Acquity UPLC® system with a Kinetex® Phenyl-Hexyl column. Mass spectrometric analysis was with negative electrospray ionization on a Quattro Premier XE™. The surrogate matrix method was used for the preparation of calibration standards in synthetic urine due to the presence of BPA in control human urine. The validated calibration range was 0.75–20 ng/mL with a limit of detection of 0.1 ng/mL. The internal standard was d16-bisphenol A. Method validation utilized quality control samples at three concentrations in both synthetic urine and human urine. Bisphenol A mono-glucuronide was fortified in synthetic urine in each analytical run to monitor the enzymatic conversion of the glucuronide conjugate to BPA by β-glucuronidase. Validated method parameters included linearity, accuracy, precision, integrity of dilution, selectivity, re-injection reproducibility, recovery/matrix effect, solution stability, and matrix stability in human urine. Acceptance criteria for analytical standards and QCs were ±20% of nominal concentration. Matrix stability in human urine was validated after 24 h at ambient temperature, after three freeze/thaw cycles, and after frozen storage at −20 °C and −80 °C for up to 218 days. The method has been applied to the analysis of over 1750 human urine samples from a biomonitoring study. The median and mean urine BPA concentrations were 2.71 ng/mL and 4.75 ng/mL, respectively.