Cloud point extraction for the determination of bisphenol A, bisphenol AF and tetrabromobisphenol A in river water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

In this work, cloud point extraction (CPE) was developed for the preconcentration and separation of bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol AF (BPAF) and tetrabromobisphenol A (TBBPA) prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) analysis. Firstly, alcohol ethoxylate (AEO₉) was applied as the extractant and octanol worked as the cloud point revulsant and synergic reagent for extraction, which decreased the cloud point temperature (CPT) of AEO₉ from 75 °C to 30 °C and assisted the subsequent extraction. The parameters influencing the CPE efficiency, such as AEO₉ concentration, octanol volume, pH value, extraction time and temperature were systematically evaluated. Under the optimum conditions, the linear range of BPA, BPAF and TBBPA was from 0.05 to 25 mg L⁻¹. All correlation coefficients of the calibration curves were more than 0.9988. The relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 5) were 1.6–4.7%. The limits of detection (LOD) were in the range of 0.27–0.32 μg L⁻¹ and the limits of quantification (LOQ) were in the range of 0.71–0.98 μg L⁻¹. The proposed method was successfully applied to the extraction of BPA, BPAF and TBBPA in river water samples as a rapid, simple, and sensitive method.