Determination of Four Types of Hazardous Chemicals in Food Contact Materials by UHPLC-MS/MS

A simple ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC) tandem mass spectrometric method for the identification and quantification of two photoinitiators 4-methylbenzophenone and 2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate; nine plasticizers including di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate and diisobutyl adipate; three primary aromatic amines 4-aminobiphenyl, 4-amino-2′,3-dimethylazobenzene and bis-(4-aminophenyl) methane and six bisphenols bisphenol F diglycidyl ether, bisphenol A diglycidyl ether, bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol B (BPB), bisphenol E (BPE) and bisphenol F (BPF) in food contact materials has been developed. The chromatographic conditions, pre-treatment methods and matrix effects were studied and optimized. For the determination of the four bisphenols, BPA, BPB, BPE and BPF, the UHPLC method employed a mobile phase of aqueous ammonia and methanol in binary gradient mode, and measurement was based on a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source operating in negative ion mode. The remaining chemicals were determined using the ESI source in positive ion mode and using the [M + NH4]+ or [M + H]+ adducts as precursor ions for tandem mass spectrometry. The calibration graphs were linear with correlation coefficients of above 0.995. Detection limits for the method were in the range of 1–16 µg/kg. Analyte recovery values were in the range of 70–114%, and relative standard deviations were 1–14%. Under optimized conditions, the chromatographic separation was performed in 12 min. The validation data indicated that the method was effective for the determination of the four classes of hazardous chemicals in plastic packaging materials or in can lacquers. The optimized method was successfully applied to trace analysis of commercially available food contact materials. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.