Background: Spherical carbons have a porous structure and large surface area for adsorption of macromolecules in water-based adhesives. Supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) can improve selectivity and obtain better separation for phthalate esters (PAEs).
Objective: The aim of this study was to develop a simple and green method for the simultaneous determination of 10 PAEs in water-based adhesives using SFC-tandem mass spectrometry with dispersion solid-phase extraction by spherical carbons.
Method: Separation of PAEs on a Viridis HSS C18 SB column and the parameters affecting the extraction were evaluated.
Results: Good accuracy and precision were obtained with the recoveries at 0.5, 2.0, and 10.0 mg/kg ranging from 82.9 to 99.5% and the intra- and inter-day precision less than 7%. The method had excellent sensitivity with limits of detection in the range of 0.015-0.029 mg/kg. In the 10-500 ng/mL concentration range, the linear correlation coefficients of all compounds were between 0.9975 and 0.9995.
Conclusions: The method was applied to the determination of 10 PAEs in actual samples. This method is simple and rapid with low solvent consumption and high extraction efficiency. When applied to the determination of PAEs in actual samples, the method is sensitive and accurate and can meet the batch processing requirements for trace PAEs in water-based adhesives.
Highlights: PAEs in water-based adhesives can be determined using inexpensive materials and simple procedures with SFC.
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