Determination of PAEs in soil of municipal wards of Patna, India by microwave assisted extraction and LC-MS/MS

ABSTRACT

Phthalic Acid Esters (PAEs) have become ubiquitous in environment due to unrestrained manufacture and use of plasticizers. The occurrence of PAEs in food, beverages, environmental and biological samples has been reported worldwide. PAEs are widely used in plasticizers for imparting flexibility and are not covalently bonded with the polymers, enabling PAEs to leach out due to change in pH and temperature. This study attempts to identify and quantify the PAEs in soil of Patna, India. Soil samples were collected from 22 municipal wards of Patna, Bihar. Microwave-Assisted Extraction (MAE) technique was applied for the extraction of PAEs followed by LC-MS/MS with electrospray ionization for the identification of different PAEs. Mono(4-pentenyl)phthalate (M(4P)P), Bis(2-hydroxyethyl) phthalate (BHEP), 2-Methylbutyl benzyl Phthalate (MBBP), Octyl Decyl phthalate (ODP), Heptadecyl trimethylsilyl phthalate (HDTMP), Magnesium phthalate (MgP), Diethyl Phthalate (DEP) and Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) were identified by LC-MS/MS. Interestingly, it was observed that soil samples of nine municipal wards were contaminated with high levels of maximum number PAEs identified in the study. Conclusively, the assessment of PAEs in soils samples is imperative for the management of environmental pollution generated by human activity.

KEYWORDS:

• PAEs
• LC-MS/MS
• MAE
• Patna
• municipal wards

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to the Department of Environment and Forest, Government of Bihar, India for providing financial assistance to the research work. We would also like to thank A.N. College, Patna for the infrastructure and laboratory facilities. We are also thankful to the Patna Municipal Corporation, Government of Bihar, India for sharing information on municipal wards distribution of Patna. Authors also extend their gratitude toward Sophisticated Analytical Instrumentation Facility (SAIF), Central Drug Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow for work on LC-MS.