Abstract: An analytical method to determine 17 phthalates in edible oil was presented using liquid-liquid extraction and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The sample pretreatment before GC-MS analysis was achieved by liquid-liquid extraction with acetonitrile, removal of unwanted impurities using a Florian silica solid phase column, rotary evaporation until dryness, re-dissolution. The presented method was simple, accurate, reliable and reproducible. The limits of detection of this method for 17 phthalates tested were in the range of 20－60 μg/L. The average spike recovery rates of these phthalates from blank edible oil samples varied from 83.20% to 102.09% with relative standard deviation of 2.73%－5.77%. This method could meet the requirements for the determination of phthalates in edible oil.

Key words: gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), edible oil, phthalate acid esters, determination