Introduction
Perfumes and other personal care products often contain fragrance compounds that can be contact allergens. Various regulations, including the European Cosmetics Directive, requires allergen compounds to be listed on packaging materials when present above certain levels (10 ppm for a leave-on product, like perfume). GC paired with TOFMS is an excellent choice for measuring many of these analytes, and a rapid screening method using LECO's Pegasus BT is demonstrated here. In addition to facilitating a targeted analysis, non-targeted characterization can also be accomplished from the same full range m/z acquired data. Calibration data for regulated analytes were determined and applied to eight different perfume samples to demonstrate product screening. Numerous other non-targeted analytes were also determined, with deconvolution providing key benefits to see what you've been missing in a standard analysis.
Figure 1. GC-TOFMS data were collected for an allergen standard, containing 24 regulated analytes. The entire separation occurs in only 5 minutes. Allergens are indicated in the standard with vertical line peak markers. The peak profile, mass spectral information, and calibration data for limonene are compiled as a representative example. The calibration range extends below the required reporting threshold (boxed red) accommodating dilutions, if needed. Calibration equations for all analytes were determined with automated data processing and were applied to subsequent unknown samples in an automated way. The average r value for all standards is 0.99918 ±0.00098.
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