Abstract
Parabens (p-hydroxybenzoic acid esters) commonly used preservatives (in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and foods) can pose potential effects on environmental health. In this study, seven parabens were quantified in marine fish samples using an ultra-high performance liquid chromatography triple quadrupole mass spectrometer (UHPLC-MS/MS) system. Parabens in the fish samples were extracted and purified by a rapid, simple, and effective procedure comprising sample homogenization with solvent, solid-phase extraction clean-up, and solvent evaporation. Results demonstrated that the recoveries of seven compounds (with relative standard deviation < 15%) were 88–103% in matrix-spike samples and 86–105% in surrogate standards. The method detection limits and method quantification limits of seven parabens were 0.015–0.030 and 0.045–0.090 ng/g-ww (wet weight), respectively. The optimized method was applied to measure the concentration of parabens in the 37 marine fish samples collected from Vietnam coastal waters. The concentration ranges of seven parabens found in round scad and greater lizardfish samples were 6.82–25.3 ng/g ww and 6.21–17.2 ng/g-ww, respectively. Among parabens, methylparaben accounted for the highest contribution in both fish species (43.2 and 44.9%, respectively). Based on the measured concentrations of parabens in marine fish samples, the estimated daily intake was calculated for children and adults with the corresponding values of 0.0477 µg/kg/day and 0.0119 µg/kg/day, respectively. However, the presence of parabens in Vietnamese marine fish may not pose a significant risk to human health.
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The present study was funded by the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) under grant number TĐĐTB0.05/21–23. We would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Graduate University of Science and Technology (GUST) and the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) for providing equipment support that facilitated the performance of this research.
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Phuong Thi Pham: conceptualization, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, validation, visualization, and writing—original draft. Thuy Cam Quan: methodology and writing—review and editing. Quynh Thi Le: formal analysis and investigation. Minh Quang Bui: funding acquisition, conceptualization, supervision, visualization, and methodology. Anh Hoang Tran: formal analysis, visualization, and methodology. Anh-Tuyet Thi Phung: formal analysis and methodology. Anh Quoc Hoang: writing—review and editing. Tu Binh Minh: writing—review and editing. Thanh-Thien Tran-Lam: conceptualization, methodology, validation, and writing—review and editing. Hai Nguyen Tran: writing—review and editing. Tri Manh Tran: conceptualization, resources, supervision, visualization, methodology, validation, and writing—review and editing.
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Pham, P.T., Quan, T.C., Le, Q.T. et al. Quantification of parabens in marine fish samples by a rapid, simple, effective sample preparation method. Environ Sci Pollut Res 31, 16571–16582 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32321-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-024-32321-1