Determination of Phthalates in vegetables by GPC-GCMS

Phthalates (PAEs) are a class of compounds which can be added to plastics to increase its flexibility, transparency, durability and longevity. They can be used in electronics industry, agriculture adjuvant, building materials, toys, food packaging materials and textiles etc. Because of its medium viscosity, high stability, low volatility, easily accessible, low cost and other features, they are currently the most widely used plasticizer.

In 2011 PAEs events broke out in Taiwan drinks, and in 2012 the same thing happened to a certain brand of liquor. And recently it was reported that "vegetables wrapped in tape" in the supermarkets may contain PAEs. And this caused more and more consumers pay great attention to the PAEs.

PAEs were classified as one kind of suspected environmental hormone. Their toxicity is mainly estrogen and anti-androgen activity which can cause endocrine disorder and reproductive function hinder in the organism. Therefore, PAEs had been restricted used in the relevant national standards such as drinking water, toys, packaging materials and food etc.

In this report a method was developed using Shimadzu's GPC-GCMS to determine 22 kinds of PAEs in vegetables. This method is sensitive, easy to operate and can be applied to quickly detect PAEs in vegetables.