A green method for the quantification of plastics-derived endocrine disruptors in beverages by chemometrics-assisted liquid chromatography with simultaneous diode array and fluorescent detection

The aim of this study was to develop a novel analytical method for the determination of bisphenol A, nonylphenol, octylphenol, diethyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate and diethylhexyl phthalate, compounds known for their endocrine-disruptor properties, based on liquid chromatography with simultaneous diode array and fluorescent detection. Following the principles of green analytical chemistry, solvent consumption and chromatographic run time were minimized. To deal with the resulting incomplete resolution in the chromatograms, a second-order calibration was proposed. Second-order data (elution time-absorbance wavelength and elution time-fluorescence emission wavelength matrices) were obtained and processed by multivariate curve resolution-alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS). Applying MCR-ALS allowed quantification of the analytes even in the presence of partially overlapped chromatographic and spectral bands among these compounds and the potential interferents. The obtained results from the analysis of beer, wine, soda, juice, water and distilled beverage samples were compared with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Limits of detection (LODs) in the range 0.04–0.38 ng mL−1 were estimated in real samples after a very simple solid-phase extraction. All the samples were found to contain at least three EDs, in concentrations as high as 334 ng mL−1.