Improved method for determining bisphenol A in polycarbonate products without using dichloromethane

An improved method for determination of bisphenol A (BPA), phenol (PH), p-tert-butylphenol (PTBP) and diphenylcarbonate (DPC) in polycarbonate products was developed without using the hazardous solvent dichloromethane. Polycarbonate samples were ground to powder or cut into small pieces, and 0.5 g was soaked in 5 mL of acetonitrile for 24 hours at 40 degrees C. The test solution was then filtered and subjected to HPLC analysis. The proposed method was evaluated by comparison of the results with those of the standard method for 14 polycarbonate products. Extraction ratios (average values obtained by the present method/average values obtained by the standard method) of BPA, PH, PTBP and DPC were 0.89-1.19, 0.89-1.14, 0.94-1.30 and 1.08-1.11, respectively. While 120 mL/sample of organic solvent is required in the standard method, only 5 mL/sample of acetonitrile was used in our new method.