Determination of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether and its hydrolysis and chlorohydroxy derivatives by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

European Legislation establishes that the sum of the migration levels of bisphenol A diglycidyl ether (BADGE), its hydrolysis (BADGE·H2O and BADGE·2H2O) and chlorohydroxy (BADGE·HCl, BADGE·2HCl and BADGE·H2O·HCl) derivatives shall not exceed the limit of 1 mg/kg in foodstuffs or food simulants. A reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatographic (RP-HPLC) method combined with mass spectrometry detection using atmospheric pressure chemical ionisation (APCI) is developed for the separation, quantification and identification of the interesting compounds. Quantification of the analytes was carried out in the single ion recording mode, once their characteristic masses were selected from their full spectra, by using an external calibration. The optimised method was suitable for the migration evaluation of these compounds in different samples.