Simultaneous determination of four trace estrogens in feces, leachate, tap and groundwater using solid-liquid extraction/auto solid-phase extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection

A simple and selective high-performance liquid chromatography method coupled with fluorescence detection was developed for the simultaneous measurement of trace levels of four estrogens (estrone, estradiol, estriol and 17 alpha-ethynyl estradiol) in environmental matrices. For feces samples, solid-liquid extraction was applied with a 1:1 v/v mixture of acetonitrile and ethyl acetate as the extraction solvent. For liquid samples (e.g., leachate and groundwater), hydrophobic/lipophilic balanced automated solid-phase extraction disks were selected due to their high recoveries compared to conventional C-18 disks. Chromatographic separations were performed on a reversed-phase C-18 column gradient-eluted with a 45:55 v/v mixture of acetonitrile and water. The detection limits were down to 1.1 x 10(-2) (estrone), 4.11 x 10(-4) (estradiol), 5.2 x 10(-3) (estriol) and 7.18 x 10(-3) mu g/L (17 alpha-ethynyl estradiol) at excitation/emission wavelengths of 288/310 nm, with recoveries in the range of 96.9 +/- 3.2-105.4 +/- 3.2% (n = 3). The method was successfully applied to determine estrogens in feces and water samples collected at livestock farms and a major river in Northeast China. We observed relatively high abundance and widespread distribution of all four estrogens in our sample collections, implying the urgency for a comprehensive and intricate investigation of estrogenic fate and contamination in our researched area.