MP7 Advances in Analysis and Measurements
201 Oregon Ballroom
1:20 PM - 4:40 PM, Monday
() Phthalate Ester Analytical Interlaboratory Comparison Study.
Ikonomou, M.1, Blair, J.1, David, F.2, Gobas, F. A. P. C.3, 1 Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Institute of Ocean Sciences, Sidney, BC, Canada2 Research Institute of Chromatography, Kortrijk, Belgium3 School of Resource & Environmental Management, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada
ABSTRACT- Phthalate esters (PEs) are a group of widely used commercial chemicals. Produced globally in large amounts (2.7 Mton per year), their primary application is as plasticizers. However, they are also used in paints, dyes, cosmetics, detergents and a variety of other products. Due to their large production and wide uses, PEs have been studied extensively for their impact on the environment and human health. Recently, PEs metabolites, the phthalate monoesters (MEs), have also become the subject of growing environmental interest. Due to the ubiquity of PEs in laboratory equipment and reagents, the precise and accurate analytical determination of PEs at ultra-trace levels is very difficult. Analysts must contend with high levels of background contamination, which can easily exceed the low levels of PEs found in some environmental samples. Certified reference materials and analytical standards, which can be used to monitor method performance and to control data quality, are not yet readily available. Furthermore, there has not yet been a rigorous intercalibration study to assess the quality of PE determinations in environmental samples. This presentation will describe the results of an international intercalibration study we performed in an effort to evaluate PEs and MEs regional and global analytical data quality and integrity. Analytical laboratories in five different countries participated in this study. Using their own methods of sample preparation and instrumental determination, each laboratory performed analyses for target PEs and metabolites in four different matrices, sediment, fortified salmon tissue, milk powder and a commercially available carp sample that is a certified reference material for other contaminants. The target analytes of interest were: dimethyl, diethyl, diisobutyl, di-n-butyl, butylbenzyl, di(2-ethylhexyl) and di-n-octyl phthalate, PE isomeric mixtures (C9 and C10) and their corresponding monoesters.
Key words: phthalate-monoesters-analysis, phthalate-esters-analysis, analytical-methods, intercalibration