Development of An UHPLC Method for Simultaneous Determination of Thirteen Bisphenols in Milk Samples

Bisphenol A (BPA) and Bisphenol F (BPF) are the monomers to make polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Their diglycidyl esters, i.e., BADGE and BFDGE (Figure 1), are also present in the polymeric products. These materials are made into a variety of consumer products or used as inner coatings for baby milk bottles and reusable food containers which are allowed to use in refrigerator and microwave for food storage and heating. It has been reported that polycarbonate plastics and epoxy-based coatings can release BPA, BPF BADGE and BFDGE as well as their reaction products as illustrated in Figure 1. These leached chemicals can migrate into food and become contaminants consumed by consumers eventually. Although researches indicate that the migration of these chemicals is normally extremely low, the specific migration limits (SMLs) of bisphenols were listed in the EU legislation No 1895/2005 on the restriction of use of certain epoxy derivatives in materials contacted with food. BPA has estrogenic effect and can disrupt normal hormone levels and development in fetuses and babies. In U.S., FDA has published food additive regulations prohibiting the use of BPA-based epoxy resins as inner coatings of containers for infant formula packaging. We describe in this Application News a new UHPLC method for simultaneous determination of thirteen concerned bisphenols including BPA, BPF, BADGE, BFDGE and some structural analogues. An UHPLC system (Nexera X2, Shimadzu Corporation) with a high sensitivity fluorescence detector was adopted to develop a fast and high sensitivity method to meet the requirements of regulations.