Simultaneous measurement of 16 bisphenol A analogues in house dust and evaluation of two sampling techniques

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a high production volume (HPV) chemical used to make polycarbonate (PC) plastics and epoxy resins. Due to its potential adverse health effects, BPA has been restricted or banned in some products and thus many alternatives to BPA have been introduced into the market. Most of these alternatives such as bisphenol S (BPS), bisphenol F (BPF), and bisphenol M (BPM), have similar chemical structures to BPA and termed as BPA analogues (BPAAs). In this study, a method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 16 BPAAs in indoor dust by gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS). The method was sensitive, with method detection limits (MDLs) ranging from 0.001 μg/g to 0.017 μg/g. The method demonstrated good recoveries (>80%) for the majority of the target compounds and was applied to the analysis of dust samples collected from 2007 to 2010 in 13 cities across Canada under the Canadian House Dust Study (CHDS). Samples were collected using two different techniques: household vacuum dust samples collected from household vacuum bags (HD); fresh vacuum dust (FD) samples collected by a trained technician from dry floor surfaces. In addition to BPA with 100% detection in 119 HD samples, BPS, BPF, and BPM were detected with high detection frequencies (>75%) with median (range) concentrations of 0.242 (<0.017–35.1) μg/g, 0.123 (<0.007–2.67) μg/g, and 0.028 (<0.005–0.908) μg/g, respectively, suggesting their wide use in various applications. Other BPAAs were not detected or detected with very low frequencies and at low levels. This study shows that BPAA concentrations in dust sampled from household vacuum bags compare well with concentrations observed in fresh dust collected from the same homes, suggesting that HD sampling could be a cost-effective alternative to FD sampling. The method was also applied to the analysis of a standard reference material – NIST SRM 2585 (organic contaminants in house dust). So far there are no certified values for BPAAs in SRM 2585. In this study only three BPAAs were detected in SRM 2585, with mean values of 34.2 (±2.3) μg/g for BPA, 1.88 (±0.22) μg/g for BPS, and 0.297 (±0.052) μg/g for BPF.