title: Mass spectrometric analytical methods for the determination of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs).
abstract: This paper describes a method for the determination of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in waste water. The method involves a SPE-C18 extraction followed by a SPE-silica gel column clean up and elution of the analytes with a mixture of acetone/pentane (2+1). Thereafter derivatisation of the analytes with heptafluorobutyric acid anhydride (HFBA) and analysis by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with positive electron impact ionisation (EI) or negative chemical ionisation (NCI) using methane as reactant gas was performed. The two different ionisation techniques were compared and the negative chemical ionisation technique proved significant lower limits of detection (LODs) and quantitation (LOQs) than positive electron impact ionisation. Recoveries of the analytes in various spiked waste water samples ranged from 75.4 to 96.9%. The concentrations of the EDCs in feed waste water from three different waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) ranged from non-detectable up to a concentration of 10,305 ng/L for 4-NP and in the corresponding effluent samples from non-detectable to 723 ng/L for BPA.
authors.affiliation: Institut fuer Siedlungswasserwirtschaft, Aachen University, Templergraben 55, D-52056 Aachen, Germany. stehmann@isa.rwth-aachen.de
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Stehmann
authors.forename: R J W
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Meesters
authors.forename: Horst Fr
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Schröder
mesh_terms: D000096:Acetone / Q000737:chemistry; D004702:Endocrine Glands / Q000737:chemistry / Q000187:drug effects*; D045166:Estradiol Congeners / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D005466:Fluorocarbons / Q000737:chemistry; D013058:Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D010420:Pentanes / Q000737:chemistry; D010636:Phenols / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013997:Time Factors; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity
chemical_list: D045166:Estradiol Congeners; D005466:Fluorocarbons; D010420:Pentanes; D010636:Phenols; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D000096:Acetone; C007924:heptafluorobutyric anhydride; C033353:pentane