A Comparison of Soxhlet Extraction and Ultrasonic-Assisted Extraction for Analysis of Photoinitiators in Printed Cartonboard Food-Packaging Materials
A new method was established for detecting a series of photoinitiators (PIs) in printed cartonboard food-packaging materials, which were benzophenone (BP), 4-methylbenzophenone (MBP), 1-hydroxycyclohexyl phenyl ketone (Irgacure184), ethyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EDAB), 2-ethylhexyl-4-dimethylaminobenzoate (EHDAB) and 2-isopropylthioxanthone (ITX) by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Extraction was carried out with ethyl acetate by ultrasonic solvent extraction. Samples were analyzed by GC/MS in selected ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The results indicated that six kinds of PIs had good linear relations (R2>0.9989) in the range of 10~200 μg/L. Limit of Detections (LODs) and Limit of Quantifications ( LOQs ) of all kinds of PIs were 0.3~2.6 μg /kg and 1~8 μg/kg, respectively. The recoveries of six kinds of PIs at three kinds of concentrations researched (0.30 μg/kg, 0.60 μg/ kg, 1.0 μg/kg) were ranging from 66.7%~89.4%, with the Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of 4.2%~10.6% (n=6). The results also suggested that PIs were detected in food packaging materials.