Simultaneous Separation and Determination of 22 Coumarin Derivatives in Cosmetics by UPLC-MS/MS

A comprehensive analytical method based on ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) has been developed for the simultaneous determination of 22 regulated coumarin derivatives in cosmetics. Various categories of cosmetic samples (creams, lotions, shampoos, and lipsticks) were subjected to optimized ultrasound-assisted extraction and solid-phase extraction procedures, which enabled exhaustive extraction of target analytes and efficient cleanup of sample matrices prior to instrumental analysis. The rapid chromatographic separation of the 22 coumarin derivatives was performed on a sub-2 µm Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column (50 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 µm), preceded by a pre-column of the same packing material within 5 min. The entire column eluent from UPLC was directed into a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer with an electrospray ionization source. The MS/MS data acquisition was conducted under the mode of multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) with two precursor-product ion transitions recorded but only one used for quantitation. The proposed method was validated in terms of matrix effects, linearity, sensitivity, accuracy, precision, specificity, and stability, and could be applied for the screening and monitoring of these prohibited or restricted coumarin derivatives in cosmetics to ensure consumers’ health and protection.