Dongguan Key Laboratory of Environmental Medicine, School of Public Health, Guangdong Medical University, Dongguan 523808, China.
Molecules. 2022 Jun 28;27(13):4157. doi: 10.3390/molecules27134157.
Determining the level of phthalic acid esters (PAEs) in packaged carbonated beverages is a current need to ensure food safety. High-selectivity and -accuracy identification of individual PAEs can be achieved by chromatographic and mass spectrometric (MS) techniques. However, these methods are slow; involve complicated, expensive instruments in professional laboratories; and consume a large amount of organic solvents. As such, a food analysis method is needed to conveniently and rapidly evaluate multiple contaminants on site. In this study, with the assistance of ultrasound, we quickly determined the total PAEs in soft drinks using 1.5 mL of petroleum ether in one step. Then, we determined the characteristic molecular fluorescence spectrum of all PAEs in samples (excitation (Ex)/emission (Em) at 218/351 nm) using selectively concentrated sulfuric acid derivatization. The relative standard deviations of the fluorescent intensities of mixed solutions with five different PAEs were lower than 7.1% at three concentration levels. The limit of detection of the proposed method is 0.10 μmol L, which matches that of some of the chromatographic methods, but the proposed method uses less organic solvent and cheaper instruments. These microextraction devices and the fluorescence spectrometer are portable and provide an instant result, which shows promise for the evaluation of the total level of PAEs in beverages on site. The proposed method successfully detected the total level of PAEs in 38 kinds of soft drink samples from local supermarkets, indicating its potential for applications in the packaged beverage industry.
测定包装碳酸饮料中邻苯二甲酸酯（PAEs）的含量是确保食品安全的当务之急。色谱和质谱（MS）技术可以实现对单个 PAEs 的高选择性和高准确性识别。然而，这些方法速度较慢；需要在专业实验室中使用复杂、昂贵的仪器；并且消耗大量有机溶剂。因此，需要一种方便、快速的食品分析方法来现场评估多种污染物。在这项研究中，我们在超声的辅助下，使用 1.5 mL 石油醚一步快速测定了软饮料中的总 PAEs。然后，我们使用选择性浓 H2SO4 衍生化法测定了样品中所有 PAEs 的特征分子荧光光谱（激发（Ex）/发射（Em）波长为 218/351nm）。五种不同 PAEs 混合溶液荧光强度的相对标准偏差在三个浓度水平下均低于 7.1%。该方法的检出限为 0.10 μmol L，与一些色谱方法相当，但该方法使用的有机溶剂更少，仪器更便宜。这些微萃取装置和荧光光谱仪便携且可即时提供结果，有望用于现场评估饮料中总 PAEs 水平。该方法成功地检测了当地超市 38 种软饮料样品中的总 PAEs 含量，表明其在包装饮料行业具有应用潜力。
