Matrix solid phase dispersion for the extraction of selected endocrine disrupting chemicals from human placental tissue prior to UHPLC-MS/MS analysis

In recent decades, in parallel to industrial development, a large amount of new chemicals have emerged that are able to produce disorders in the human endocrine system. These groups of substances, so-called endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), include many families of compounds, such as parabens, benzophenones and bisphenols. Given the demonstrated biological activity of those compounds, it is necessary to develop new analytical procedures to evaluate the exposure with the final objective of establishing, in an accurate way, relationships between EDC concentrations and the harmful health effects observed in the population. In the present study, a method based on a sample treatment by matrix solid phase dispersion (MSPD) for the extraction of four parabens (methyl-, ethyl-, propyl- and butylparaben), five bisphenols (bisphenol A and monochloro-, dichloro-, trichloro- and tetrachlorobisphenol A) and benzophenone-3 in human placental tissue samples, followed by ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) analysis is proposed. The extraction parameters were accurately optimized using multivariate optimization strategies. Ethylparaben ring-13C6, benzophenone-d10 and bisphenol A-d16 were used as surrogates. The found limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.2 to 0.4 ng g− 1 and the precision, evaluated as relative standard deviation, ranged from 6.1% to 14.8%. The method was validated using matrix-matched standard calibration followed by a recovery assay with spiked samples. Recovery rates from 96% to 105% were obtained. The method was satisfactorily applied for the determination of target compounds in human placenta samples from 10 randomly selected women.