Development and Validation of a LC-FD Method for the Simultaneous Determination of Eight Bisphenols in Soft Drinks

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical widely used as a monomer in the production of polymers of plastics. It acts as an endocrine disrupting agent and thus its contaminations of food and beverage should be carefully monitored in order to assess consumers’ risk. In this study we propose a liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection (LC-FD) validated method for the simultaneous determination of BPA and seven analogues, i.e. bisphenol AF, bisphenol B, bisphenol E, bisphenol F, BPA diglycidyl ether, bisphenol F diglycidyl ether, and Bisphenol M in soft drinks. A one-step solid phase extraction (SPE) was effective at reducing the interferences, obtaining good purification of the samples and, consequently good recoveries of all analytes. The separation was obtained on a C18 column by using acetonitrile/water 55:45 (v/v) under isocratic conditions. Method validation was performed according to the European Commission Decision 2002/657/EC criteria, providing good results regarding the analytical parameters of linearity, selectivity, sensitivity, precision, recovery, decision limit (CCα), detection capability (CCβ), limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), stability and robustness. The method allows the detection of BPA and BADGE at levels much lower than their legal limits in the food, which are 0.06 mg kg-1 and 9.00 mg kg-1, respectively.