Analysis of Estrogens in Discharge of Sewage Plant and River Water by GC/MS

Non-conjugated natural and synthetic estrogens (estrone: E1, alpha-estradiol: a-E2, betaestradiol: b-E2, ethynylestradiol: EE2, mestranol: Me, estriol: E3) in discharge of sewage plant (DSP) and river water were preconcentrated by solid-phase extraction using a reversed-phase C18 disk, and cleaned up by silica-gel cartridge. They were derivatized with TMS, and the products were analyzed by GC/MS used widely. The products were stable for 30 days at 25°C. Range of mean recoveries of six estrogens from eight samples (six DSP samples and two river water samples) were 76.9-111% and range of RSD as repeatability from one DSP sample were 0.9-8.9% at spiking levels of 105 (E1) and 5 (others) ng/l. Range of recovery of E2-d4 as surrogate from twenty samples was 53.6-120% (average: 84.5%) . These estrogens can be detected in concentrations below 0.5ng/l. This method has been successfully applied to the analysis of DSP and river water. E1, a-E2, b-E2, EE2 and E3 were detected in river water. E1, a-E2, b-E2 and E3 were detected in DSP, a maximum concentration was found for E1 with 89ng/l. No Me was detected in all investigated samples.