Abstract:Objective To establish a method for simultaneous determination of the residues of four chlorophenols compounds (2,4-dichlorophenol, 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, 2,3,4,6-tetrachlorophenol, pentachlorophenol) in food paper products by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS). Methods The samples were extracted by ultrasonic 0.5% formic acid in methanol and purified by mixed anion exchange solid phase column. The target compounds were separated on HSS T3 column(2.1 mm×100 mm,1.8 μm), and detected under negative ionization and multiple reaction monitoring(MRM) mode. Four compounds were identified by retention time and the ratio of characteristic ions, and were quantified by using the internal standard method. Results The calibration curves of the four compounds were linear within the range from 5 to 100 μg/L. The correlation coefficients of the four compounds were above 0.99.The limits of detection(LOD)were in the range of 0.01-0.02 mg/kg,and the limits of quantification(LOQ)were in the range of 0.03-0.06 mg/kg. The average recoveries of paper samples at spiked levels from 0.03 to 0.14 mg/kg were between 80.1% and 110.4%, and the relative standard deviations (n=6) were between 3.2% and 9.9%. Conclusion The pretreatment of sample was simple. The method was accurate and sensitive, which could be used to determine chlorophenols compounds in food paper products.