Determination of nonylphenol and octylphenol in paper by microwave-assisted extraction coupled to headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A novel and simple method for the determination of active endocrine disrupter compounds (octylphenol OP, and nonylphenol NP) in paper using microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and headspace solid-phase microextraction, coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry has been developed. Parameters affecting the efficiency in the MAE process such as exposure time and extraction solvent were studied in order to determine operating conditions. The optimised method was linear over the range studied (1.25-125 μg kg−1 for OP and 9.50-950 μg kg−1 for NP) and showed good level of precision, with a RSD lower than 10% and detection limits at 0.10 and 4.56 μg kg−1 for OP and NP, respectively. The results obtained from six different types of paper revealed the presence of the target compounds in all samples analysed, at levels ranging between 3 and 211 μg kg−1.