A simple, fast and easy methodology for the monitoring of plastic migrants in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages using the QuEChERS method prior to gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

• Published in: Analytical and bioanalytical chemistry 2020-03, Vol.412 (7), p.1551-1561
• Main Authors: Rodríguez-Ramos, Ruth, Socas-Rodríguez, Bárbara, Santana-Mayor, Álvaro, Rodríguez-Delgado, Miguel Ángel
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alcoholic beverages; Alcoholic Beverages - analysis; Analysis; Analytical Chemistry; Beer; Beverages; Beverages - analysis; Biochemistry; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chromatography; Cider; Commercialization; Dibutyl phthalate; Esters; Food Science; Gas chromatography; Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry - methods; Grapes; Instrument industry; Juices; Laboratory Medicine; Limit of Detection; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Methods; Migrants; Monitoring/Environmental Analysis; Phthalates; Plastics - analysis; Quadrupoles; Reproducibility of Results; Research Paper; Scientific imaging; Spectroscopy; Supermarkets; Tandem Mass Spectrometry - methods
• ISSN: 1618-2642; 1618-2650
• DOI: 10.1007/s00216-019-02382-0

In this work, the development of a simple, fast and reliable method for the evaluation of a group of twelve plastic migrants in alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages widely consumed by the population has been carried out. For that, a modified QuEChERS method for the extraction and preconcentration of the target compounds has been used prior to their separation and quantification by gas chromatography coupled to triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry. The whole methodology was validated for beer, cider and grape juice matrices, using dibutyl phthalate-3,4,5,6-d 4 as surrogate. Recovery ranged from 75 to 120% for all matrices with relative standard deviation values lower than 20%, and the limits of quantification of the method were achieved in the range 0.034–1.415 μg/L. Finally, the analysis of different beer, cider and grape juice samples commercialised in different supermarkets of Tenerife was carried out, finding the presence of four of the evaluated phthalates in the range 0.14–1.1 μg/L in some of the evaluated beers, six of them in several cider samples, in the range 0.3–2.1 μg/L, and one in the range 1.2–1.5 μg/L in three of the analysed grape juices.