Qualitative and quantitative analysis of estrogens content in natural water is a difficult task. An important problem in the analysis of hormones in water is the quantitative determination of their individual species. Low detection limits and instability of estrogen derivatives are the main challenges. Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (mag-MIPs) in combination with Flowing Atmospheric-Pressure Afterglow Mass Spectrometry (FAPA-MS) were successfully used for analysis of estrogen hormones in water samples. The aim of the study was to obtain mag-MIPs selective to estrone (E1) and β-estradiol (E2) for solid phase extraction and pre-concentration of estrogens. Due to their superior analyte binding properties at low concentrations (0.03 g in 1 g of polymer structure) and possibility of magnetic separation, mag-MIPs were proven to be very convenient and efficient adsorbent materials. In addition, MS analyses were performed using two ionization sources: ESI- and FAPA-MS. For both estrogens, LOD was significantly lower for FAPA-MS analysis (0.135 μgL-1 for E1 and E2) than for ESI-MS analysis (27 μgL-1 for E1 and 13.6 μgL-1 for E2). The total estrogen concentration in the environmental water sample was determined as: cE1 = 0.271 μgL-1 and cE2 = 0.275 μgL-1.
Keywords: E1; E2; ESI-MS; FAPA-MS; MIPs; environment contamination; hormones; mag-MIPs; mass spectrometry; separation techniques.