Determination of phthalates in fruit jellies by dispersive SPE coupled with HPLC-MS

In this study, a simple, rapid and sensitive method for the determination of five phthalates including dimethyl phthalate, diethyl phthalate, dipropyl phthalate, benzyl butyl phthalate, and dicyclohexyl phthalate in fruit jellies by LC coupled with MS has been developed. Samples were pretreated by a dispersive SPE method, termed QuEChERS, which is an acronym for quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe. The standard calibration curves were linear for all the analytes over the concentration range of 10-250 ng/mL, and the correlation coefficients ranged from 0.9976 to 0.9991. The LODs and LOQs were in the ranges of 0.09-3.68 ng/mL and 0.28-11.25 ng/mL, respectively. The accuracy of this method was evaluated by measuring the recovery from spiked samples. The recoveries of all five phthalates from samples spiked at three different concentrations (0.01, 0.03, and 0.05 mg/kg), were in the ranges of 83.5-103.9%, 86.7-95.8%, and 87.1-95.2%, respectively. The RSD values for the samples spiked at 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05 mg/kg ranged from 2.0-7.6%, 1.4-6.4%, and 1.2-3.8%, respectively. The method has been used for the analysis of real samples and BBP and DEP were found in real samples.