[Analysis of estrogens, nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol and bisphenol A in the sediments]

Estrogens and alkylphenols have received much attention because of its endocrine disrupting effects to aquatic ecosystem in recent years. The fate of these compounds in sediments which is a repository of many organic pollutants has an important significance on the study of behaviors of target compounds in the environment. It is difficult to separate trace estrogens from sediments with complex matrices. Alkali extraction, liquid-liquid extraction and LC-MS/MS were used to analyze estrogens, nonylphenol, 4-tert-octylphenol and bisphenol A in sediments based on their physicochemical properties. The results showed that recoveries of the seven target compounds were 61.3%-93.7%. The established pretreatment method can effectively remove pollutants that cannot dissolve in alkali solution or that cannot dissolve in both acid and alkali solution. It can widely be used to analyze sediments and soil samples because of its low cost and simple operation but with high recoveries and low detection limit.