Development of magnetic solid phase microextraction method for determination of the endocrine disrupting chemicals leached from reused plastic bottles

Reuse of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles for storage of water and liquid food is so common in some countries of the world. However, it can result in the migration of plastic components or additives into the stored liquids and threatening of human health. In this respect, the present study developed a method for determination of endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that might be released from reused disposable plastic containers. The proposed method relied on the extraction of the phthalic acid esters (PAEs) and plastic additives by a self-magnetic nanocomposite monolithic (SMNM) kit and their determination by gas chromatography/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS). Extraction of the target analytes by the self-magnetic nanocomposite monolithic stir bar sorptive extraction (SMNMSBSE) method was optimized systematically by evaluating the effect of extraction time, ionic strength, stirring rate, desorption time and desorption solvent on the process. Analysis of different water and liquid food samples with various pH value and matrices unraveled that the acidic liquids and the samples stored at higher temperature have a greater chance of contamination by the released EDCs. Also, low-quality plastic bottles were found to release more plastic additives into the stored liquids. At the optimal conditions, the method demonstrated a linear response from 0.01 to 1000 µg L^-1 and provided the limits of detection (LODs) of 0.008-1.000 µg L^-1. Furthermore, the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the method did not exceed 10.05% and 8.12% for interday and intraday precision, respectively. In general, the results of this study indicated that the synthesized SMNM kit can effectively enrich the migrated plastic additives and the developed SMNMSBSE-GC/MS methodology is efficient for analysis of the target EDCs.