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Abstract
An efficient nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based method was developed to detect and quantify the presence of phthalates in plastic fragments obtained from a children’s toy and cosmetic product containers. Bis-2-ethyl hexyl phthalate (BEHP) was present at a concentration of 8.5% w/w in the plastic toy residue. This indicates levels of phthalates above the permitted threshold (e.g., <0.1% w/w) imposed by EU and USA regulations restricting the use of plasticizers in plastic toys for children aged 0 to 3 years. An added value of this method is that the tetramethylsilane (TMS) internal standard present at a concentration of 2.2 mmol/L in commercially available CDCl3 solvents may be conveniently used for the quantitative nuclear magnetic resonance (qNMR) analysis. The protocol described here is highly reproducible and may be easily applied to large scale investigations of plasticizers content into polyvinyl chloride (PVC) polymers.
Author contributions
HW and AZ conducted the experiments and collected data. HW contributed to the preparation of the manuscript. KR supervised research activity and formulated research goals. FB conceptualized this study, designed and developed methods, and wrote the paper.