Development of Sample Preparation Methods for Liquid Chromatography Tandem Mass Spectrometric Analysis of Ingredients in Household Chemical Products

Abstract

Recently, there has been increased concern regarding exposure to unknown hazardous chemicals in household chemical products (HCPs). However, there is a limitation to identify unrevealed ingredients in HCPs with a single analytical method due to their diverse physicochemical properties. Suspect screening analysis using liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS) is an effective technique to identify polar compound in HCPs. In this study, we developed a sample preparation method for HCPs and identified uncovered ingredients in the products. The following three types of HCPs were selected for the present study according to the product formulation: aerosol, water-soluble liquid, and water-soluble powder type. Basic condition solid phase extraction (SPE) using 0.02% ammonium hydroxide solution was performed to remove anionic surfactants in HCPs. Extracted samples were analyzed using a UHPLC-Q-TOF mass spectrometer, and chemicals were identified using NIST 20 MS/MS spectral library. As a result, fatty acids showed decreased intensity in the basic condition SPE compared to acidic SPE. Suspect screening analysis revealed unknown seven compounds across the tested HCPs, which were matched against commercially available reference standards. For the confirmed chemicals, recovery tests were performed using matrix matched calibration methods. The developed sample preparation method can provide knowledge of unknown hazardous chemicals in HCPs.