Analysis of Single-Use Plastic Water Bottles for Extractable and Leachable Components by Gas Chromatography with Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

In this work, the extractable and leachable profiles of single-use plastic water bottles were explored. Understanding the chemical profile for these materials is important, as the industry of single-use plastic water bottles is continuing to grow and there is ongoing interest about the health implications of exposure to plastic packaging materials. Non-targeted screening approaches are crucial for these analyses as they can provide information on the presence of both intentional processing additives and the non-intentionally added substances (NIAS), such as side products, breakdown products, and/or contaminants, all of which may be extractable or leachable analytes. Gas chromatography (GC) and Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (TOFMS) are well suited to perform this type of analysis and are demonstrated here for a collection of water bottle samples.