A new liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry method for determination of parabens in human placental tissue samples

Endocrine disruptors are a group of organic compounds widely used, which are ubiquitous in the environment and in biological samples. The main effect of these compounds is associated with their ability to mimic or block the action of natural hormones in living organisms, including humans. Parabens (esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid) belong to this group of compounds. In this work, we propose a new liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) method to asses the presence of parabens most commonly used in industrial applications (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butyl-paraben) in samples of human placental tissue. The method involves the extraction of the analytes from the samples using ethyl acetate, followed by a clean-up step using centrifugation prior to their quantification by LC–MS/MS using an atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) interface in the negative mode. Deuterated bisphenol A (BPA-d16) was used as surrogate. Found detection limits (LOD) ranged from 0.03 to 0.06 ng g−1 and quantification limits (LOQ) from 0.1 to 0.2 ng g−1, while inter- and intra-day variability was under 13.8%. The method was validated using standard addition calibration and a spike recovery assay. Recovery rates for spiked samples ranged from 82% to 108%. This method was satisfactorily applied for the determination of parabens in 50 placental tissue samples collected from women who live in the province of Granada (Spain).