Journal of Chromatography B 2005-06-25

Quantification of phenolic metabolites of environmental chemicals in human urine using gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry and isotope dilution quantification.

Roberto Bravo, Lisa M Caltabiano, Carolina Fernandez, Kimberly D Smith, Maribel Gallegos, Ralph D Whitehead, Gayanga Weerasekera, Paula Restrepo, Amanda M Bishop, José J Perez, Larry L Needham, Dana B Barr

Index: J. Chromatogr. B. Analyt. Technol. Biomed. Life Sci. 820(2) , 229-36, (2005)

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Abstract

We have developed a method to measure 12 urinary phenolic metabolites of pesticides or related chemicals. The target chemicals for our method are 2-isopropoxyphenol; 2,4-dichlorophenol; 2,5-dichlorophenol; carbofuranphenol; 2,4,5-trichlorophenol; 2,4,6-trichlorophenol; 3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridinol; para-nitrophenol, ortho-phenylphenol, pentachlorophenol, 1-naphthol and 2-naphthol. The sample preparation involves enzyme hydrolysis, isolation of the target chemicals using solid phase extraction cartridges, a phase-transfer catalyzed derivatization, cleanup using sorbent-immobilized liquid/liquid extraction cartridges, and concentration of the sample. Derivatized samples are analyzed by capillary gas chromatography-tandem mass spectroscopy using isotope dilution calibration for quantification. The limits of detection are in the mid ng/L range and the average coefficient of variation was below 15% for most of the analytes. Using our method, we measured concentrations of the target chemicals in urine samples from the general population.