GC-MS multiresidue method for the analysis of Personal Care Products (PCPs) in wastewaters

Personal Care Products (PCPs) constitute a diverse group of chemicals that have recently been recognized as particular contaminants of the aquatic environment, where they are continually introduced as complex mixtures primarily by both untreated and treated sewage [1]. Though most of the published methods are devoted to a small number of PCPs belonging to the same chemical class, a multi-analytical method is relevant to simultaneously determine many PCPs and their bioactive metabolites displaying a wide range of physico-chemical properties, i.e., volatility, polarity, water solubility [2]. In this work a GC-MS multi-residue method has been developed for the simultaneous analysis of PCPs belonging to different chemical classes in wastewaters: the preliminary step for pre-concentration and clean-up of the complex sample prior to GC-MS analysis has been investigated and optimized using the SPE (solid-phase extraction) procedure. The work was focused on 31 target compounds properly selected to represent different chemical classes of PCPs occurring in wastewaters: nitro and polycyclic musks (fragrances in cosmetics), phenols (antioxidants and preservatives), phthalates (plasticizers). Different SPE adsorbents and eluting conditions were tested and compared: in addition to the conventional stationary phase, a surface modified styrene divinylbenzene polymeric phase ( SPE cartridge) has been investigated as properly suitable for polar and non-polar compounds. Different solvent compositions and eluting conditions were tested to achieve the best recovery for all the target analytes. With the optimized experimental procedure most of the PCPs can be reproducibly extracted with high recoveries (above 80%). In the GC-MS analysis, the high complexity of the GC-MS signal due to the low selectivity of the extraction step can be solved by the high selectivity and sensitivity of the SIM or MS/MS detection.