Determination of Fragrance Allergens in Paper Personal Care Products by Headspace (HS) Solid-Phase Microextraction (SPME) Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) Optimization

Abstract

Fragrance allergens (FAs) have been widely used in wet wipes, diapers, sanitary napkins, and other paper personal care products. There are more than 1000 fragrance allergens that may be present in these products. However, their negative effects on human health and environment cannot be ignored. This work presented a headspace (HS) solid-phase microextraction (SPME) combined with gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) for the determination of fragrance allergens in paper personal care products. The factors affecting the extraction efficiency were optimized by response surface methodology (RSM). Under optimal conditions, the method provided good linearity (R ≥ 0.995) from 2.5 × 10−4 to 1.28 × 10−1 µg with low limits of detection (LODs) between 1.9 × 10−2 and 6.0 µg/kg. Twenty paper personal care products were analyzed and 12 fragrance allergens were detected. The detection rate of benzyl alcohol was the highest (80%) with contents from 0.009 to 5.73 mg/kg, followed by linalool (over 75%) with a content of 12.30 mg/kg in makeup removing wipes. Additionally, a comparison for the determination of fragrance allergens by solid–liquid extraction-dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (SLE-DLLME) and HS-SPME was reported. HS-SPME has been demonstrated to be a sensitive screening method for fragrance allergens in paper personal care products.