Development of Poly(3,4-Ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) Electropolymerized Sorbent-Based Solid-Phase Microextraction (SPME) for the Determination of Parabens in Lake Waters by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography – Tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)

Parabens are widely used as antimicrobial preservatives in cosmetic products and pharmaceuticals. Therefore, their presence in the environment is considered to be serious and their determination is important. This paper reports the development and validation of a new method based on solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and high-performance liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of five parabens (methylparaben (MP), ethylparaben (EP), propylparaben (PP), butylparaben (BP) and benzylparaben (BzP)) in surface water. The polymer sorbent was obtained by the electropolymerization of 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene on a stainless steel spring support. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of parabens were optimized. Under optimal conditions, the extraction recoveries ranged from 88 to 98% except for BzP (70%). Good linear responses were obtained with correlation coefficients (r2) exceeding 0.999. The detection limits were from 0.004 to 0.28 µg L−1. The method was successfully applied for the determination of parabens in lake water.