Sensitive determination of bisphenol A and alkylphenols by high performance liquid chromatography with precolumn derivatization with 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-5,6-dimethylbenzimidazole

A new and sensitive high-performance chromatographic method for the determination of bisphenol A and 8 alkylphenols with fluorescence detection is reported. F-ach phenol was derivatized by reaction with 2-(4-carboxyphenyl)-5,6dimethylbenzimidazole at 40 degreesC for 60 min. The fluorescence derivatives were separated on a Wakosil 5C18 column (4.0 i.d. x 300 mm, 5 mum) with methanol:water (10:90) as mobile phase (detection wavelength: lambda (ex) 336 nm, lambda (em) 440 nm). The detection limits were in the range of 0.1-10.0 pg/mL in serum. The calibration graphs were linear to 1.0 mug/mL. The relative standard deviations were 7.2-8.9%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of bisphenol A in mother and infant rat serum. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.