Determination of Carcinogenic and Allergenic Dyestuffs in Toys by LC Coupled to UV/Vis Spectrometry and Tandem Mass Spectrometry

A comprehensive analytical method based on LC coupled with ultraviolet–visible spectrometric detection and tandem mass spectrometry has been developed for the determination of sixteen carcinogenic and allergenic dyestuffs in toys. Various toy samples, including textiles, leathers, woods, paper, aqueous liquids, solid toy materials such as crayons, modeling or play clay, balloons and temporary tattoos were ultrasonically extracted with ethanol. Quantitative analysis was carried out after chromatographic separation with a mobile phase of acetonitrile-tetrahydrofuran-citrate buffered tetrabutylammonium hydroxide mixture under gradient elution. The mean recoveries at three spiked levels were between 88.6 and 104.7, with the relative standard deviations from 1.6 to 6.7%. The intra-day reproducibility ranged from 1.7 to 3.9% and inter-day reproducibility ranged from 3.0 to 5.8%. The identities of the dyestuffs were further verified by LC-tandem mass spectrometry. The method was successfully applied to the investigation of different toy components.