J. Serb. Chem. Soc. 80 (3) 333–345 (2016) UDC 543.544.3+543.51:547.562.1+ JSCS–4850 544.032.72:504.4.054(282.243.74) Original scientific paper 333 Seasonal variations of bisphenol A in the Danube River by the municipality of Novi Sad, Serbia MAJA MILANOVIĆ 1 *, JAN SUDJI 1 , NEVENA GRUJIĆ LETIĆ 1 , JELENA RADONIĆ 2# , MAJA TURK SEKULIĆ 2# , MIRJANA VOJINOVIĆ MILORADOV 2 and NATAŠA MILIĆ 1 1 Faculty of Medicine, University of Novi Sad, Hajduk Veljkova 3, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia and 2 Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Trg Dositeja Obradovića 6, 21000 Novi Sad, Serbia (Received 21 July, revised 5 November, accepted 16 November 2015) Abstract: Seasonal variations of bisphenol A (BPA, IUPAC: 4,4′-(propane-2,2- -diyl)diphenol) were investigated in the Danube River along the Novi Sad bank, Serbia using solid-phase extraction followed by the gas chromatographic mass spectrometric method. The obtained results confirmed the presence of BPA above the limit of quantification (6 ng L -1 ) in 22 out of 32 the water samples at all eight sampling sites. The BPA concentration varied from <6 to 693 ng L -1 . The mean BPA concentration for summer (220 ng L -1 ) significantly differed from those obtained for autumn (39 ng L -1 ), winter (6 ng L -1 ) and spring (41 ng L -1 ). The risk quotients, expressed as the ratio of the 95 th percentile of the measured environmental concentrations for each season and the predicted no-effect concentration were higher than one (>1) for autumn, spring and summer. The high potential risk that is attributed to the elevated summer concentrations is probably the result of increased human activities and weather conditions. Keywords: bisphenol A; Danube River; endocrine disrupter; GC–MS; surface water. INTRODUCTION Bisphenol A (BPA, 4,4′-(propane-2,2-diyl)diphenol) is one of the most investigated and discussed endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs), and has received much attention as an emerging chemical of concern in order to protect wildlife and human health. 1 Endocrine disrupters (EDs) can interfere with horm- onal action and with human cell functions mainly through interaction with spe- cific receptors and can induce numerous adverse health effects. Therefore, the occurrence of BPA in the environment could have potential harmful effects on * Corresponding author. E-mail: majam021@yahoo.com # Serbian Chemical Society member. doi: 10.2298/JSC150721095M _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Available on line at www.shd.org.rs/JSCS/ (CC) 2016 SCS. All rights reserved.