Bisphenol A (BPA) and its structural analogues (BPF, BPS, BPP, BPZ, BADGE, BPAF, BPAP) are used in the production of polycarbonate plastics and epoxy resins. Most of them have proven endocrine disruptive effects in humans and in other life forms in very low concentrations. BPA is of particular interest as it is mass produced and released into the environment as a result of human activity and accumulates in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Recent studies have revealed the presence of BPA in fresh water resources which is not only a threat to the fresh water ecosystems but also to humans because the usual source of drinking water is from rivers and streams. Presence of bisphenols in the environment is crucial and use of analytical techniques for their chemical separation and subsequent analysis is necessary for efficient environmental monitoring of these compounds. This study used capillary electrophoresis (CE) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS) to develop sensitive analytical protocols for quantification of BPA present in environmental, swimming pool and tap water samples from the Kamloops region. Standard addition and internal standard calibration approaches were used to quantify BPA in the water samples. In addition, a CE method was developed to simultaneously separate eight bisphenol analogues, BPA, BPF, BPS, BPZ, BPP, BPAP, BPAF and BADGE. Optimization of experimental parameters such as pH, buffer concentration, detection wavelength, applied voltage and buffer additives enabled the successful baseline separation of all the analogues.
