Identification and semi-quantitative analysis of parabens and UV filters in cosmetic products by direct-analysis-in-real-time mass spectrometry and gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection

A method based on direct-analysis-in-real-time mass spectrometry (DART-MS) for the qualitative and semi-quantitative analysis of eight organic UV filters and four parabens in twelve cosmetic products with substantially different formulations (as cream, milk, lotion, oil, lipstick) was developed. All tested substances could be identified unambiguously in the investigated samples without any sample pretreatment. Direct analysis of cosmetic products allows semi-quantitative determination of parabens. For UV filters no satisfactory results were obtained by direct analysis but all analytes could be quantified by simply dissolving the samples in methanol, addition of an internal standard and subsequent measurement of the solution by DART-MS without further pre-treatment. The results obtained using DART-MS were confirmed by a more established method namely gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection (GC-MS).