TY - JOUR
T1 - A QuEChERS-based UPLC-MS/MS method for rapid determination of organophosphate flame retardants and their metabolites in human urine
AU - Chen, Zhi Feng
AU - Tang, Ying Tao
AU - Liao, Xiao Liang
AU - Jiang, Jie Ru
AU - Qi, Zenghua
AU - Cai, Zongwei
N1 - The present study was funded by the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (2021A1515010018), Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, China (202102021010), National Key Research and Development Project (2019YFC1804604), and Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Chemical Pollution and Environmental Safety (2019B030301008).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2022/6/20
Y1 - 2022/6/20
N2 - Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) have been widely used in consumer products to prevent fire spread. However, once released into the atmospheric environment, they may accumulate in humans and undergo metabolic transformation and excretion by urine. In order to clarify the human exposure to OPFRs, a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method for the simultaneous determination of urinary OPFRs and their metabolites by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was developed. After the optimization by a single-factor or orthogonal experiment, the satisfactory recovery (87.8–119%), matrix effect (−8.88–9.29%), method quantitation limit (3.66–159 ng/L), and inter-day repeatability (1.24 − 10.6%) of most analytes were achieved in artificial urine samples. Based on a monitoring test by the developed method, we propose that urinary bis(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate and di-p-cresyl phosphate could be used to trace human exposure to tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate and tricresyl phosphate, respectively. Most importantly, this is the first study to reveal that 4-hydroxyphenyl diphenyl phosphate (4-OH-TPHP) was dominantly presented in its conjugated form rather than its free form in urine (p = 0.037). Overall, the obtained results contribute a relatively rapid method to help conduct large-scale urine monitoring for revealing the human exposure and risk of OPFRs.
AB - Organophosphate flame retardants (OPFRs) have been widely used in consumer products to prevent fire spread. However, once released into the atmospheric environment, they may accumulate in humans and undergo metabolic transformation and excretion by urine. In order to clarify the human exposure to OPFRs, a quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe method for the simultaneous determination of urinary OPFRs and their metabolites by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry was developed. After the optimization by a single-factor or orthogonal experiment, the satisfactory recovery (87.8–119%), matrix effect (−8.88–9.29%), method quantitation limit (3.66–159 ng/L), and inter-day repeatability (1.24 − 10.6%) of most analytes were achieved in artificial urine samples. Based on a monitoring test by the developed method, we propose that urinary bis(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate and di-p-cresyl phosphate could be used to trace human exposure to tris(1-chloro-2-propyl) phosphate and tricresyl phosphate, respectively. Most importantly, this is the first study to reveal that 4-hydroxyphenyl diphenyl phosphate (4-OH-TPHP) was dominantly presented in its conjugated form rather than its free form in urine (p = 0.037). Overall, the obtained results contribute a relatively rapid method to help conduct large-scale urine monitoring for revealing the human exposure and risk of OPFRs.
KW - Organophosphate flame retardant
KW - 4-hydroxyphenyl diphenyl phosphate
KW - QuEChERS
KW - UPLC-MS/MS
KW - Urine
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125654921&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153989
DO - 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153989
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 35192813
AN - SCOPUS:85125654921
SN - 0048-9697
VL - 826
JO - Science of the Total Environment
JF - Science of the Total Environment
M1 - 153989
ER -
