Determining leaching of bisphenol A from plastic containers by solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

This study evaluates solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) to determine trace levels of bisphenol A in water and leached from plastic containers. The extraction using headspace post-derivatization with bis(trimethylsilyl) trifluoroacetamide (BSTFA), containing 1% trimethylchlorosilane (TMCS) vapor, following SPME was compared with extraction without derivatization. The SPME experimental procedures to extract bisphenol A in water were optimized with a relatively polar polyacrylate (PA)-coated fiber, an extraction time of 50 min and desorption at 300 °C for 2 min. Headspace derivatization following SPME was performed using 7 μL of BSTFA with 1% TMCS at 65 °C for 30 s. The precision was 5.2% without derivatization and 9.0% headspace derivatization. The detection limit was determined to be at the ng/L level. When SPME was used following headspace derivatization, the detection limit was one order of magnitude better than that achieved without derivatization. The results of this study reveal the adequacy of SPME-GC-MS method for analyzing bisphenol A leached from plastic containers. The concentrations of bisphenol A leached from plastic containers into water ranged from 0.7 to 78.5 μg/L.