Quantitation of Canadian organic ultraviolet filters using polarity switching and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Ultraviolet filters (UVFs) absorb UV light and are comprised of numerous classes of compounds including inorganic and organic. They have been used for decades in protecting humans from skin damage and cancer. Recent studies have shown that UVFs are found in many phases of abiotic and biotic systems with their physical-chemical characteristics determining environmental fate and potential biological im-pacts such as bioaccumulation. This study developed a unified method to quantify eight UVFs (avoben-zone, dioxybenzone, homosalate, octinoxate, octisalate, octocrylene, oxybenzone, and sulisobenzone) by solid phase extraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry us-ing polarity switching. The validated method resulted in accuracies ranging from 75 to 112%, MLD/MLQs of 0.0 0 015/ 0.0 0 049 to 0.0 020/ 0.0 067 ng mL -1, and precisions of 1.8 to 22.6% (intraday) and 1.3 to 17.2% (interday). The method was applied to chlorinated outdoor pool waters in the City of Winnipeg, Mani-toba, Canada. This method could be adapted for a variety of chlorinated and unchlorinated waters such as drinking water, wastewater, and surface waters.& COPY; 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.