Abstract:

A method was proposed for the rapid determination of 20 phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in edible oil based
on automated online gel permeation chromatography coupled with gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GPC-GCMS).
Diluted oils were directly determined by GPC-GC-MS. Identification and detection were achieved using electron impact (EI)
ionization in the selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The calibration curves of 20 PAEs were linear in the range of 2.5–10000 μg/L
with good correlation coefficients more than 0.99. The recoveries for all these compounds from edible oil at the spiked levels
of 1LOQ, 2LOQ and 4LOQ were in the range of 83%–118%. The limits of quantitation (RSN ≥ 10) for the PAEs were in the
range of 0.11–4.59 mg/kg and RSD were 1.9%–6.7%. The established method was successfully used for the determination
of real samples (bean oil, corn oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil and olive oil) from supermarkets. The method was simple, rapid
and reliable, and could meet the requirement for simultaneous determination and analysis of 20 PAEs in edible oil.

Key words: on-line gel permeation chromatography coupled with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GPC-GC-MS), edible oil, phthalate acid esters (PAEs)