Determination of migration of phthalates esters in disposable plastic cups by GC-MS

Objective To determine the migration of phthalates esters in disposable plastic cups by gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC-MS), and to study the effect of materials, temperature and duration conditions on the concentration of phthalate esters in disposable plastic cups. Methods Simulants (distilled water, 3% acetic acid aqueous solution, 10% ethanol aqueous solution and isooctane) test samples were extracted with n-hexane and analyzed by GC-MS. The external standards were applied to the analysis and quantitation of phthalate esters. Results A good linear relationship was showed under the range of 0.01-10 μg/mL for 17 compounds of migration of phthalates esters with R² ≥ 0.998. The recovery rates were 71%-107% and the relative standard deviation were lower than 7%. The detection limit was 0.86-14.41. The migration of phthalates esters were detected in ten brands of disposable plastic cups sold in Shanghai.Diisobutyl phthalate, dibutyl phthalate and dioctylphthalate were detected in ten brands of disposable plastic cups, but none of them were exceed the limits. Under the high temperature condition, the pdypropylene and polyethylene terephthalate material concentration of migration of phthalates esters in disposable plastic cups were with no obvious difference, but the polystyrene material concentration of migration of phthalates esters in disposable plastic cups were raised over time. Conclusion This method has good sensitivity, accuracy, repeatability and is suitable for the rapid analysis of the migration of phthalate esters in disposable plastic cups.