Determination of Human Epidermal Growth Factor in Cosmetics by Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) with High-performance Liquid Chromatography – Tandem Mass Spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)

Abstract

A method for determining human epidermal growth factor (hEGF) in cosmetics was developed using solid-phase extraction with high-performance liquid chromatography – tandem mass spectrometry. The sample was extracted and purified by a mixed anionic solid-phase extraction column (MAX), and the eluent was passed through a nylon filter membrane into a polypropylene vial. The matrix-matched external standard method was used to quantify the analyte in multi-reaction monitoring mode. The analyte had an excellent peak shape within 11 min with a linear range from 5 to 80 ng/mL and a linear correlation coefficient (r) of 0.9995. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.75 and 2.5 μg/kg, respectively. The recovery of the target was from 81.5% to 88.8%, and the relative standard deviation was between 1.16% and 5.07%. The results met the International Organization for Standardization 12787 standard. The established method was successfully applied to 30 cosmetic samples. The proposed method is sensitive, accurate, reliable, and suitable for the quantitative confirmation of hEGF and monitoring its illegal addition to cosmetics.