Simplified matrix solid phase dispersion procedure for the determination of parabens and benzophenone-ultraviolet filters in human placental tissue samples

In recent decades, the industrial development has resulted in the appearance of a large amount of new chemicals that are able to produce disorders in the human endocrine system. These substances, so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), include many families of compounds, such as parabens and benzophenone-UV filters. Taking into account the demonstrated biological activity of these compounds, it is necessary to develop new analytical procedures to assess the exposure in order to establish, in an accurate way, relationships between EDCs and harmful health effects in population. In the present work, a new method based on a simplified sample treatment by matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) followed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis, is validated for the determination of four parabens (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butylparaben) and six benzophenone-UV filters (benzophenone-1, benzophenone-2, benzophenone-3, benzophenone-6, benzophenone-8 and 4-hydroxybenzophenone) in human placental tissue samples. The extraction parameters were accurately optimized using multivariate optimization strategies. Ethylparaben ring-13C6 and benzophenone-d10 were used as surrogates. The found limits of quantification ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 ng g−1 and inter-day variability (evaluated as relative standard deviation) ranged from 5.4% to 12.8%. The method was validated using matrix-matched standard calibration followed by a recovery assay with spiked samples. Recovery rates ranged from 96% to 104%. The method was satisfactorily applied for the determination of compounds in human placental tissue samples collected at the moment of delivery from 10 randomly selected women.