Simultaneous determination of 17 bisphenols in polycarbonate by ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry.

A novel method was developed for the first time for the determination of 17 bisphenols by ultra-high performance supercritical fluid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry. Under the optimal conditions, 17 bisphenols were separated successfully on a high density diol column in 9 min using methanol and carbon dioxide as mobile phase. 0.02% ammonium hydroxide/methanol v/v was used as the post-column compensation solvent to improve response of mass spectrometry. Linear relations of matrix-matched calibration curve were favorable over the selected concentration range of 1-100 μg/kg with correlation coefficients greater than 0.9981. The method limit of detection and limit of quantitation were 0.1-0.5 μg/kg and 0.5-2.5 μg/kg, respectively. The average recoveries at three spiked levels in polycarbonate were in the range of 81.8-114.5%. Intra-day and inter-day precisions for six replicates were below 15.0%. This method was successfully applied to determine bisphenols in polycarbonate.