Phthalates and bisphenol-A determination and release from different beverage plastic containers by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and GC-IT/MS analysis

Phthalates and bisphenol-A are molecules widely used in packaging because they increase the plastic malleability and workability but they show the tendency to migrate or dissociate from plastics. Recently, researchers raised the alarm to have found their traces in water samples of plastic bottles left at high outdoor temperatures for a long time. The paper would like to show a simple, sensitive, and reproducible method for the simultaneous determination of phthalates and bisphenol-A in drinking water, based on the dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis. The dispersion is favored by means of ultrasonic bath and stirring magnetic plate, without dispersive solvent. The method presents an average R2 0.993 in the range 10–5000 ng mL-1, a limit of detection below 1.2 ng mL-1, and a limit of quantification below 7.7 ng mL-1. The release of such compounds from different beverage containers (6 plastic bottles, 6 canteens, and 3 newborn feeding bottles) has been analyzed. The release kinetics from the bottles are studied over 2 months, whereas over 6 h for the other containers. Only 2 compounds have been found in a plastic bottle and in a canteen bottle, with concentrations ranging between 24 and 117 ng mL-1.