Air-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction integrated with QuEChERS for determining endocrine-disrupting compounds in fish by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

A new, sensitive, and rapid method based on the Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged and Safe (QuEChERS) approach and air-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (AALLME) technology was developed for the determination of 20 endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in fish by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The method first integrates AALLME into QuEChERS to achieve clean-up and enrichment of the EDCs in one step. A self-made glass tube was enfolded with plasticine to withstand the high centrifugal force. The established method was developed by optimization of the parameters. High linearities (R2 > 0.9924) and recoveries (78.2-118.6%) at three spiked levels (5, 10, and 20 ng g−1), and low relative standard deviation values (1.1-14.5%) and limits of detection (0.03-0.80 ng g−1) were obtained. The method comparison shows that the proposed method is superior as it involves less organic solvent usage, simple operation and high efficiency. This method was successfully applied to different fishes for analyzing EDCs.