An efficient and eco-friendly injection-port tert-butyldimethylsilylated (TBDMS) derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) were developed to determine an antibacterial agent, triclosan (TCS), and its metabolite: methyltriclosan (MTCS), in wastewater and surface water samples. The effects of several parameters related to the TBDMS-derivatization process (i.e., injection-port temperature, residence time and volume of silylating agent) were investigated. This on-line derivatization-coupled large-volume (10 µL) sample introduction provides sensitive, fast and reproducible results for TCS residue analyses. Each water sample was extracted by reversed-phase C18 solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridge, and then the recovery efficiency was evaluated using various eluting solutions. Limits of quantitation (LOQs) for MTCS and TCS were 3.0 and 1.0 ng/L in 100 mL of water samples, respectively. Intra- and inter-batch precision with their accuracy were also investigated. The precision for these analytes, as indicated by relative standard deviations (RSDs), proved to be less than 7 and 11%, respectively, for intra- and inter-batch. Accuracy, expressed as the mean recovery, was between 80 and 95%. The method was then applied to environmental water samples, showing the occurrence of TCS in both surface water and municipal wastewater treatment plant (MWTP) influent/effluent samples.

An efficient and eco-friendly injection-port tert-butyldimethylsilylated (TBDMS) derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) was developed to determine triclosan (TCS, an antibacterial agent) in the samples of toothpaste, liquid hand-soap and facial cleansing cream. This on-line derivatization coupled ultrasonic extraction provides sensitivity, fast and reproducible results for TCS analysis. The accuracy and precision of the method was evaluated. The developed method was successfully applied to determine the content of TCS in selected personal care products.