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Determination of phthalic acid esters in different baby food samples by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

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Abstract

In this work, a new method has been developed for the determination of 14 phthalic acid esters (i.e., benzylbutyl phthalate (BBP), bis-2-n-butoxyethyl phthalate (DBEP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), bis-2-ethoxyethyl phthalate (DEEP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), diisodecyl phthalate (DIDP), diisononyl phthalate (DINP), bis-isopentyl phthalate (DIPP), bis (2-methoxyethyl) phthalate (DMEP), dimethyl phthalate (DMP), di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP), bis-n-pentyl phthalate (DNPP), dipropyl phthalate (DPP)) and one adipate (bis (2-ethylhexyl) adipate (DEHA)) in different baby foods. Separation was carried out by gas chromatography triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry while the previous extraction of the samples was carried out using the QuEChERS method. The methodology was validated for four baby food samples (two fruit compotes of different compositions and two meat and fish purees with vegetables) using dibutyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d4 (DBP-d4) as internal standard. Determination coefficients (R2) of matrix-matched calibration curves were above 0.9922 in all cases while relative recovery values ranged between 70 and 120%, with relative standard deviation values below 19%. The limits of quantification of the method ranged between 0.03 and 1.11 μg/kg. Finally, the analysis of commercially available samples was carried out finding the presence of BBP, DEHA, DEP, DIDP, and DPP in some of the studied samples.

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Acknowledgements

J.G.S. would like to thank the Canary Agency of Economy, Industry, Trade and Knowledge of the Government of the Canary Islands for the FPI fellowship (co-financed with an 85% from European Social Funds). The authors would like to acknowledge the use of the Research Support General Service (SEGAI) of the University of La Laguna.

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (project CTQ2014-57195-P).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Servicio General de Apoyo a la Investigación (SEGAI), Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez s/n, 38206, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain

    Bárbara Socas-Rodríguez

  2. Departamento de Química, Unidad Departamental de Química Analítica, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez s/n, 38206, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain

    Javier González-Sálamo, Álvaro Santana-Mayor & Javier Hernández-Borges

  3. Instituto Universitario de Bio-Orgánica Antonio González, Universidad de La Laguna (ULL), Avda. Astrofísico Fco. Sánchez 2, 38206, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain

    Antonio V. Herrera-Herrera

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  1. Bárbara Socas-Rodríguez
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  2. Javier González-Sálamo
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  3. Antonio V. Herrera-Herrera
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  4. Álvaro Santana-Mayor
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  5. Javier Hernández-Borges
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Correspondence to Javier Hernández-Borges.

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Published in the topical collection Food Safety Analysis with guest editor Steven J. Lehotay.

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Socas-Rodríguez, B., González-Sálamo, J., Herrera-Herrera, A.V. et al. Determination of phthalic acid esters in different baby food samples by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 410, 5617–5628 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-0977-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-018-0977-y

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