Abstract:

There is a huge space in the market of cosmetics, and the quality problem of antibiotics abusage in cosmetics often exists. Cephalosporins as a kind of antibiotic have also been found in cosmetics regulation in recent years. Currently there is no literature on the determination method of cephalosporins in cosmetics. In order to assess the cephalosporins residues in cosmetics, a method was established for the determination of 17 cephalosporins residues in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （HPLC-MS/MS）. The cosmetics with liquid water-based, oil-based and cream were investigated. The conditions of extractant solvent, solid phase extraction column and chromatographic conditions were optimized. The samples were ultrasonically extracted with EDTA-Mcllvaine, centrifuged, and then purified with PRIME HLB SPE columns. The target compounds were separated on a Waters ACQUITY UPLC BEH C18 column （2.1 mm×100 mm, 1.7 µm） by gradient elution using methanol and 0.1% formic acid solution as mobile phases. The analysis was carried out using a positive electrospray ion source in the multiple reaction monitoring mode. Results show that under the optimized test conditions the target compounds are separated effectively. There are good linear relationships for 17 cephalosporins in the corresponding ranges, and the linear correlation coefficients are all above 0.99. The average recoveries of the lower limit of quantitation are between 75.27% and 110.32%, and the relative deviations are less than 10.00%. The method is convenient, simple, accurate, and is suitable for the determination of 17 cephalosporins in various kinds of cosmetics.

Key words: HPLC-MS-MS, cosmetics, cephalosporin