Analysis of steroid hormones in effluents of wastewater treatment plants by liquid chromatoraphy–tandem mass spectrometry

This paper presents the development of an analytical procedure for the determination of two sexual steroid hormones: 17β-estradiol and estrone, and the synthetic contraceptive estrogen, 17α-ethynylestradiol in effluents of wastewater treatment plants. Samples are extracted via solid-phase extraction using C18 cartridges. Extracts in ethyl acetate are then purified with a liquid–liquid separation with aqueous sodium chloride, then with a clean-up on a Florisil cartridge. Steroids are analyzed using an LC–MS–MS ion trap system. Internal quantification with the corresponding deuterated steroids leads to limits of quantification at 5 ng/l for estrone and 10 ng/l for estradiol and ethynylestradiol. In mineral spiked water, recoveries are 91% for 17β-estradiol, 97% for estrone and 87% for 17α-ethynylestradiol and RSDs are 15% for 17β-estradiol, 11% for estrone and 23% for 17α-ethynylestradiol.