Sensitive determination of bisphenol A and alkylphenols by high performance liquid chromatography with pre‐column derivatization with 2‐(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐5,6‐dimethylbenzimidazole

A new and sensitive high‐performance chromatographic method for the determination of bisphenol A and 8 alkylphenols with fluorescence detection is reported. Each phenol was derivatized by reaction with 2‐(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐5,6‐dimethylbenzimidazole at 40°C for 60 min. The fluorescence derivatives were separated on a Wakosil 5C18 column (4.0 i.d. × 300 mm, 5 µm) with methanol:water (10:90) as mobile phase (detection wavelength: λ ex 336 nm, λ em 440 nm). The detection limits were in the range of 0.1–10.0 pg/mL in serum. The calibration graphs were linear to 1.0 µg/mL. The relative standard deviations were 7.2–8.9%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of bisphenol A in mother and infant rat serum. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.Abbreviations used : CDB 2‐(4‐carboxyphenyl)‐5,6‐dimethylbenzimidazoleED endocrine discriptorIDC 1‐isopropyl‐3‐(3‐dimethylaminopropyl) carbodiimide perchlorate.