An investigation into possible sources of phthalate contamination in the environmental analytical laboratory

摘要

A study of common laboratory equipment and components was performed in order to identify sources of contamination of phthalates prior to testing environmental samples for such compounds. A screening study revealed significant leaching from laboratory consumables, such as plastic syringes, pipette tips released maximum leachings of 0.36 μg cm~(-2) diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP) and 0.86 μg cm~(-2) diisononyl phthalate (DINP), plastic filter holders produced maximum leachings of 2.49 μg cm~(-2) dibutyl phthalate (DBP) from polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE); specifically 0.61 μg cm~(-2) DBP from regenerated cellulose and 5.85 μg cm~(-2) dimethyl phthalate (DMP) from cellulose acetate and Parafilm~® leached levels up to 0.50 μg cm~(-2) DEHP. In addition, a high-temperature bake-out process was found necessary to eliminate quite high levels of two phthalates present in a commercial bulking agent for pressurized liquid extraction.