Simultaneous determination of 16 fluoroquinolone antibiotics in cosmetics by ultra-performance liquid chromatography/triple quadrupole mass spectrometry with ultrasound-assisted extraction and solid-phase extraction

Abstract

A rapid, sensitive and reliable analytical method has been developed for the simultaneous determination of 16 fluoroquinolones (FQs) in cosmetic samples by use of ultra-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS). The employment of ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) in sample pretreatment procedures enabled exhaustive extraction of target analytes and effective clean-up of sample matrices prior to instrumental measurement. The UPLC separation of the 16 FQs was performed using an ACQUITY UPLC BEH Shield RP18 column (100 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), preceded by a VanGuard pre-column (5 mm × 2.1 mm, 1.7 μm) of the same packing material with gradient elution. The MS/MS acquisition was carried out using positive electrospray ionization (ESI) under the selected reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The established method was validated in terms of matrix effect, linearity, sensitivity, accuracy, stability, specificity, recovery, and precision, and can be applied for the monitoring of FQ antibiotics residues in cosmetic products to ensure consumer health and protection.