Determination of nine bisphenols in sewage and sludge using dummy molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

This paper describes the determination of bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol S (BPS), bisphenol F (BPF), bisphenol E (BPE), bisphenol B (BPB), bisphenol AF (BPAF), bisphenol AP (BPAP), bisphenol Z (BPZ) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) in sewage and sludge samples. A highly class-selective dummy molecularly imprinted polymer was used for solid phase extraction (SPE) and clean-up of the samples. Bisphenols was quantified by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). The developed method had acceptable recoveries (43.6-101%), precision (RSDs: 1.5-15%) and matrix effects (−6.7 to 28%). The method limits of quantitation (MLOQs) for nine bisphenols in sewage and sludge samples were 0.0007-16.3 ng L−1 and 0.0004-8.28 ng g−1 dry weight (dw), respectively. The method was applied to a survey of a municipal wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) in Dalian. All of the tested bisphenols, except BPB and BPZ, were presented in the analyzed samples. BPA, BPS, and BPF with the concentrations 412, 109 and 66.4 ng L−1 in the WWTP influent, respectively, were the predominant bisphenols. The results demonstrated that BPS and BPF have become the most frequently used substitutes of BPA.