[Determination of triclocarban and triclosan in urine by QuEChERS extraction and ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry]

Abstract

Objective: To establish a method for the determination of triclocarban (TCC) and triclosan (TCS) in urine by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC-MS/MS) after purification by QuEChERS. Methods: In May 2022, urine samples were extracted by acetonitrile, purified by QuEChERS, separated by Waters Acquity UPLC BEH C18 column (100 mm×2.1 mm, 1.7 μm), and eluated with water-acetonitrile as mobile phase gradient at a flow rate of 0.3 ml/min. The detection was conducted in negative ion mode (ESI(-)) and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) scanning, it was quantified with a internal standard method, and the methodology was verified. Results: The linear ranges of TCC and TCS were 0.5-100.0 μg/L and 1.0-100.0 μg/L, and the correlation coefficients were 0.9997 and 0.9991, respectively. The limits of detection and quantitation of TCC and TCS were 0.17 and 0.33 μg/L, and 0.5 and 1.0 μg/L, respectively. The recoveries of TCC and TCS were 100.1%-102.8% and 96.7%-108.6%, and the relative standard deviations were 4.9%-6.7% and 4.1%-8.3%, respectively, at 2.0, 10.0 and 80.0 μg/L. Conclusion: QuEChERS-UPLC-MS/MS method is simple, rapid, sensitive and reproducible, and can be used for rapid and accurate simultaneous detection of TCC and TCS exposure levels in occupational population.

Keywords: QuEChERS; Tandem mass spectrometry; Triclocarban; Triclosan; Ultra-performance liquid chromatography; Urine.