Rapid Determination of 17 Phthalate Esters in Capsanthin by QuEChERS Coupled with Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

A method for the simultaneous determination of 17 kinds of phthalate esters in capsanthin was developed by the QuEChERS (quick, easy, cheap, effective, ruggedand safe) pretreatment method coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry(GC-MS). Capsanthin samples were extracted with acetonitrile, and then sodium chloride and anhydrous magnesium sulfate were added for salting out. After the extracting liquids were cleansed by florisil, the supernatants were analyzed by GC-MS. The limits of detection (LOD) and limits of quantitation (LOQ) ranged from 0.2 to 0.5 µg/g and 0.6 to 1.5 µg/g, respectively. DMP, DEP, DAP, DIBP, DBP, BMPP, DPP, DHXP and DCHP were in the range of 0.2 - 10 µg/g; DMEP, DEEP, BBP, DBEP, DEHP, DPhP, DNOP and DNP were in the range of 0.5 - 20 µg/g. And all had good linearity and the linear correlation coefficients (R2) were more than 0.995. The average recoveries of 17 kinds of PAEs of the three levels were between 82.8 and 118.1%, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs) were between 0.12 and 7.3%. It is a simple, rapid, accurate and reliable method for the rapid detection of PAEs in large quantities of natural plant extract samples.