Simultaneous determination of nonylphenol and nonylphenol ethoxylates in wastewater samples from biodegradation process by high performance liquid chromatography method

Abstract

The degradation products of nonylphenol ethoxylates (NPnEO), nonylphenol (NP) and short-chain NPnEO are representative of environmental endocrine disruptors. They possess strong lipophilicity, toxicity, cumulative property and estrogenic effect. They can pollute the environment, cause body precocious, and induce the body’s estrogen-sensitive cancer cell proliferation. A fast method using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed to simultaneously quantify NP and 11 kinds of NPnEO in wastewater samples. The influence of mobile phase composition, mobile phase ratio, mobile phase flow rate, column temperature and sample injection volume on the separation effect was studied. Under the optimized conditions, NP and 11 kinds of NPnEO were separated successfully within 35 min. The method showed good linearity for NP and 11 kinds of NPnEO (n = 1-11). The linear correlation coefficients for the standard curves were 0.9720- 0.9999. The precision degree of the method was reliable and all the relative standard deviation (RSD) values (n = 0-11) obtained were less than 5.0%.