A rapid and sensitive method for the detection of aromatic amines in cosmetics.

Aromatic amines (AAs) are common chemical pollutants and banned ingredients in cosmetics. In this study, a rapid, simple and stable method for the detection of nine AAs in cosmetics was established based on the optimization of cation exchange solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry. The method displayed good linearity within a range of 2-1,000 µg/kg, with limits of quantitation at the level of µg/kg for cosmetic samples. The recoveries obtained for all analyzed amines ranged between 83.6 and 97.8%, and the repeatability (r) and reproducibility (R) values indicated that all nine AAs showed good precision (r ≤ 4.5% and R ≤ 7.7%). The method was applied for the detection of 36 cosmetic samples. It was found that the primary pollutants of AAs were 3, 3'-dichlorobenzidine and 4-aminoazobenzene. The total amine concentration in cosmetic samples ranged from 880 to 5,200 µg/kg. The proposed method is applicable for the analysis of most cosmetic samples.