Determination of alkylphenols in water samples using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry after pre-column derivatization with dansyl chloride.

The present study describes an effect of reaction condition of pre-column derivatization of alkylphenols (APs): bisphenol A (BPA), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), 4-octylphenol (4-OP), 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP), and isomers of 4-nonylphenol (iso-NP) with 5-(dimethylamino) naphthalene-1-sulfonyl chloride (dansyl chloride, DNSC) on their LC-ESI-MS/MS determination in water samples. Chemical derivatization improves the sensitivity and selectivity of LC-MS/MS analysis. In principle, alkylphenols can be analyzed by LC-MS/MS without derivatization.