Bisphenol A Alternatives – Are they really safer?

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a widely used epoxy resin that has come under scrutiny in recent years. It is so ubiquitous that it was detected in 93% of surveyed test subjects over the age of 6. You probably handle BPA-containing products already on a regular basis, such as receipts from the grocery store, plastic bottles, and many other sources. In today’s world, exposure to BPA is virtually unavoidable.
                As a compound that mimics the action of estradiol, BPA is an endocrine disruptor. In addition, a wide variety of studies have reported a number of other possible health effects. Some companies that have used BPA in their consumer materials have since replaced it with other bisphenol compounds and labeled the new materials as “BPA-free.”  This may lead consumers to believe that these products  are now safe, but the fact of the matter is that some of these BPA-substitutes are just as toxic, if not more so.
                Two examples of these BPA alternatives are bisphenol F (BPF) and bisphenol S (BPS). They are structurally similar to BPA and hence exhibit similar physical properties, making them ostensibly good BPA substitutes. In terms of health effects however, some reports claim they are actually 100 times worse than BPA [1].
                Similarity in structure also means that the compounds may be difficult to distinguish chromatographically. Nevertheless, it will be important to have HPLC methods capable of separating these three bisphenol compounds from each other for analyses of “BPA-free” products. Therefore I investigated such a separation using the Cogent Bidentate C18 2.o™ column. I used reference standards of the three bisphenol compounds and found excellent selectivity amongst them using the column.
                I was able to obtain a separation in under five minutes using a simple, premixed isocratic mobile phase. The method uses reversed phase conditions and a formic acid additive, which would be amenable to transfer to LC-MS. In more complex analyses such as plasma testing for bisphenol compounds, LC-MS may be the preferred choice. In any case, the Bidentate C18 2.o™ would be suitable for bisphenol separations in various types of samples. Analyses such as these may become more important once the health effects of the BPA substitutes are studied more in the future.
                To read more about the application, Click Here.

 Reference:

[1] “100 Times the Damage: Avoid at all Costs – BPA, BPF, BPS ,” Mass Report,  http://massreport.com/100-times-the-damage-avoid-at-all-cost-bpa-bpf-bps/, 2014-12-31. Retrieved 2015-03-25.