Determination of natural and synthetic endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) in sewage based on SPE and MEKC with amperometric detection

An integrated analytical method to monitor five environmental endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs): 2,4-dichlorophenol (DCP), 4-tert-butylphenol (BP), bisphenol A (BPA), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2) and 4-n-nonylphenol (NP), was developed for the first time, based on a solid-phase extraction and miniaturized micellar electrokinetic chromatography with amperometric detection. In order to get the optimum conditions of their separation and detection, several parameters including pH and concentration of running buffer, concentration of micelle, separation voltage and injection time were studied and optimized. The five EDCs were well separated under the optimum conditions within 12 min. This method was successfully applied for the determination of these five EDCs in sewage influent sample. Satisfactory extraction performances from sewage sample was obtained by solid-phase extraction, using a C ₁₈ cartridge. Quantitative analysis showed that DCP, BP, and BPA existed at μg L^-1 level in the selected sample, while EE2 and NP were not detected.