Determination of Bisphenol A (BPA) in the Port of Gdynia Waters Using Gas Chromatography Coupled with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS)

Abstract

This paper presents a procedure for the determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in seawater. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was used as the analytical method, preceded by analyte isolation via solid-phase extraction (SPE). Initially, the best conditions for extraction, derivatization, and GC-MS analysis were established. The need for derivatization in the determination of BPA was investigated, and for this reason, two methods of sample preparation were compared: with and without the derivatization step. The parameters of the two methods of sample preparation were compared with each other, and a more efficient method was chosen for the analysis of marine water samples. Afterwards, the validation process was carried out and the following parameters were determined: limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), linearity, precision, reproducibility, and repeatability. Finally, the results of the determination of bisphenol A in water samples collected from five harbor basins of the Port of Gdynia using an unmanned mobile research unit, HydroDron-1, were presented. The identified concentrations ranged from 0.01 µg/L to 0.03 µg/L, depending on the investigated area.