Determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in the presence of phenol by first-derivative fluorescence following micro liquid-liquid extraction (MLLE)

Bisphenol A (BPA) in the presence of phenol is determined using a method based on first-derivative spectrofluorimetry. The proposed method involves a micro liquid–liquid extraction of sodium chloride saturated water samples with diethyl ether followed by direct fluorimetric analysis of extracts. The excitation spectra of both compounds in diethyl ether are recorded between 200 and 290 nm, with the emission wavelength at 306 nm. The first-derivative spectra were calculated, measuring the analytical signal for BPA at 239 nm. The concentration range over which the method was applied was 0.5–10.0 μg·l⁻¹ of BPA with relative standard deviations of 2.9% for a concentration of 4.0 μg·l⁻¹ of BPA. The detection limit was 0.07 μg·l⁻¹. The proposed method was applied satisfactorily to the determination of BPA in synthetic mixtures and water samples from different sources previously spiked with different amounts of these chemicals. Recovery values ranging from 93% to 112% were obtained for water samples.