Qureshi, MS; Yusoff, AR; Wirzal, MD; Sirajuddin, MD; Barek, J; Afridi, HI; Üstündag, Z
Phthalates are endocrine disruptors frequently occurring in general and industrial environment and in may industrial products. Moreover, they are also suspected of being carcinogenic, teratogenic, and mutagenic and they show diverse toxicity profiles depending on their structures. The European Union and United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) have included many phthalates into the list of priority substances with potentially endocrine disrupting action. Namely they are: dimethyl phthalate (DMP), diethyl phthalate (DEP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), butylbenzyl phthalate (BBP), diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), di-iso-nonyl phthalates (DINP), di-iso-decyl phthalate (DIDP), di-n-decyl phthalate (DNDP), and dioctyl phthalate (DOP). There is an ever increasing demand for new analytical methods suitable for monitoring of different phthalates in various environmental, biological and other matrices. Separation and spectrometric methods are most frequently used. However, modern electroanalytical methods can also play useful role in this field because of their high sensitivity, reasonable selectivity, easy automation and miniaturization, and especially low investment and running costs which makes them suitable for large scale monitoring. Therefore, this review outlines possibilities and limitations of various analytical methods for determination of endocrine disruptor phthalate esters in various matrices including somewhat neglected electroanalytical methods.
