Prevention of artifactual formation of nitrosamines during the analysis of baby bottle rubber nipples

Abstract

It has been found that considerable amounts of nitrosamines may be formed as artifacts during the analysis of rubber nipples by a method that involves Soxhlet extraction of the samples with dichloromethane. The extent of such formation was monitored by incorporating morpholine as a marker amine and studying the formation of nitrosomorpholine, which varied between 9 and 80 ng per analysis depending on the type of sample analysed and the brand of dichloromethane used. The problem could be minimised by pre-testing dichloromethane for its N-nitrosation potential and by incorporating propyl gallate, an N-nitrosation inhibitor, in the method.