The endocrine disruptor bisphenol A (BPA) has been previously found in the linings of water pipes and baby bottles. While it has been outlawed in those two products, traces of it can still be found in linings of food cans and thermal receipt paper. BPA is a xenoestrogen meaning that it imitates estrogen due to the similarity is phenol groups of BPA and estradiol. This allows BPA to trigger estrogenic pathways in the body causing major health effects such as metabolic diseases, neurological effects, and certain cancers. Pregnant women, their unborn children, and young children are at the greatest risk of the health effects from BPA consumption. In this experiment, fluorescence spectrophotometry is used to determine an approximate amount of BPA leached into water from thermal receipt paper. Fluorescence spectrophotometry is the method of determining BPA amounts because BPA emits fluorescence which can be precisely measured to determine the amount of BPA contained in a sample.

Determining levels of bisphenol A leached into water from thermal receipt paper using fluorescence spectrophotometry

255th National Meeting (2018)

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