Simultaneous determination of seven glucocorticoids in cosmetics by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

A rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method with electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC-ESI-MS/MS) was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of 7 glucocorticoids (GC) including hydrocortisone acetate (HCA), cortisone acetate (COA), prednisone (PDS), prednisolone (PDL), methyl prednisolone (MPL), dexamethasone (DEX) and fluocinolone acetonide (FLA), which may be illegally blended in transdermal cosmetics. Sample preparation step consists of the extraction with ethyl acetate followed by centrifugation and filtration. The extract was dried, diluted and cleaned using C18 SPE column. The compounds were separated by reversed-phase chromatography with mobile phase containing 0.1% formic acid in water and acetonitrile in gradient condition. The method was validated at the validation level from 0.12 to 6.0 µg/g. The LODs for PDS, PDL and FLA were 0.3 µg/g and for the others were 0.03 µg/g, and LOQs were 0.6 and 0.12 µg/g, respectively. The reproducibility was satisfied with the relative standard deviation below 23% and the recoveries were in the range of 74.3-106.7% meeting AOAC requirements. The studied glucocorticoids were detected in about 20% of tested samples collected in Hanoi with the level contents in the range from 0.18 to 16.2 µg/g.