Chromatographic determination of bisphenol a in bottled water

Embalirane vode spadajo med najbolj pogoste nakupe v vsakdanjem življenju, saj voda spada med najbolj zdrave pijače na svetu. Zaradi svoje embalaže pa lahko vsebuje številne strupene snovi, med katere spada tudi bisfenol A. Te snovi namreč prehajajo iz embalaže v vodo. Bisfenol A je sintetična kemikalija, ki se uporablja kot monomer pri sintezi polikarbonatne plastike. Veliko se ga uporabi za sintezo epoksidnih smol. Plastiki daje zelo dobre karakteristike, vendar pa je za človeka strupen. Njegov nezreagiran delež migrira iz embalaže v vodo in ob zaužitju lahko v našem telesu vzpodbudi in povzroči številne bolezni in nepravilnosti. Zaradi njegovih negativnih učinkov na zdravje ljudi so številni proizvajalci plastike začeli izločat bisfenol A iz sintez, vendar se ga še vedno uporablja. Ravno zaradi tega smo želeli raziskati, ali plastenke vode še vedno vsebujejo bisfenol A, ki nato lahko migrira v vodo, ki jo zaužijemo. V sklopu diplomskega dela smo razvili uporabne metode ekstrakcije bisfenola A na trdni fazi na koloni Strata X ter metode njegove kvantitativne analize s tekočinsko kromatografijo visoke ločljivosti v povezavi z UV detekcijo. Analizirali smo 15 vzorcev vod, in sicer 10 srbskega in bosanskega porekla ter 5 slovenskega porekla. Uporabnost metode smo potrdili na obogatenih vzorcih vode. Uporabljeni topili za pripravo standardnih raztopin, pri postopkih ekstrakcije ter pripravo mobilnih faz za kromatografijo sta bila metanol in acetonitril. Izvedli smo reverzno fazno izokratsko elucijo in bisfenol A zaznali pri 210 nm. Prikazana analiza je zelo primerna za vzorce bisfenola A, katerih koncentracije presegajo 1 mg/L. Metoda pa ni bila dovolj občutljiva za analizo vzorcev nižjih koncentracij, kar se je pokazalo kot pomanjkljivost pri analizi realnih vzorcev. Bisfenol A se namreč v vodi nahaja v izredno nizkih koncentracijah, ki pa so po rezultatih sodeč pod mejo zaznavnosti UV detektorja.Bottled water falls under the most frequent purchases in everyday life. Water is one of the healthiest beverages in the world, but when bottled, it may contain numerous toxins, like bisphenol A. These toxins can pass from the container into water. Bisphenol A is a synthetic chemical that is used as a monomer in the synthesis of polycarbonate. It is frequently used in the synthesis of epoxide resins. It gives plastic high characteristics, but is toxic to humans. Its unreacted particle migrates into water and when consumed, may cause numerous diseases and abnormalities in human bodies. Due to BPArelated negative impacts on human health, numerous plastic producing companies have decided to eliminate bisphenol A from the synthesis, but it is in general still used. For this reason, we decided to find out if the containers of bottled water still contain bisphenol A, which can migrate into the water that we consume. Within this thesis, we developed useful methods of extraction of bisphenol A by solid phase extraction on Strata X and its quantitative analysis by liquid chromatography with UV detection. 15 samples of bottled water were analysed. 10 of them were Serbian and Bosnian origin while 5 samples were of Slovene origin. The method validation was confirmed on spiked samples of water. Methanol and acetonitrile were used as solvents for preparing standard solutions, for extractions and also for preparing mobile phases for chromatography. Reverse phase isocratic elution was performed and bisphenol A was detected at a wavelength of 210 nm. It was shown that the analysis of bisphenol A is very suitable for samples with the concentrations above 1 mg/L. However, the method was not sufficiently sensitive for the analysis of bisphenol A at lower concentration levels and this was confirmed as a drawback in the analysis of real samples. Bisphenol A is present in the containers in extremely low concentrations and therefore our results were below the detection limits of the UV detector