Rapid Analysis of Trace Phthalates by Spray-Inlet Microwave Plasma Torch Ionization-Tandem Mass Spectrometry in Commercial Perfumes.

Abstract

BACKGROUND\nThe less volatile fraction of perfumes can be easily contaminated by phthalates esters (PAEs) which are endocrine-disrupting chemicals during the production, bottling and transportation processes. It is necessary to establish an innovative and rapid method to determine the trace PAEs in commercial perfumes.\n\n\nOBJECTIVE\nHence, self-built spray-inlet microwave plasma torch ionization coupled with a quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometer (QTOF-MS) was developed for direct analysis of PAEs in perfumes with no sample pretreatment.\n\n\nMETHODS\nPerfumes were sprayed to the MPT s flame directly by sampling pump in 10\u2009µL/min and the ions produced by MPT were introduced into QTOF-MS, the MPT worked at 2450\u2009MHz and 40\u2009W in the 800\u2009ml/min flow rate of argon.\n\n\nRESULTS\nFor the developed method, excellent linearities were obtained and the correlation coefficient of Di-n-pentyl Phthalate was 0.9799 and the rest were larger than 0.99. The LODs and LOQs were obtained in the ranges of 1.452-18.96\u2009ng/g and 4.839-63.19\u2009ng/g, respectively. The spiked recoveries of PAEs were in the range of 100.1-105.2% with satisfied intra-day RSDs and inter-day RSDs ranging from 1.51-4.34% and 3.45-5.65%, respectively. PAEs in commercial perfumes were successfully detected by spray-inlet MPT-MS2 with low concentrations from 0.036-1.352\u2009µg/g.\n\n\nCONCLUSIONS\nThe method is a promising tool in field analysis of PAEs in cosmetic solutions where rapid qualitative and quantitative analysis in needed.\n\n\nHIGHLIGHTS\nThe method was satisfactorily applied to the analysis of commercial perfume samples within 30\u2009s, and earned merits such as simplicity, sensitivity, environmental friendliness and ease operation.