Simultaneous determination of benzotriazole copper inhibitor and microbiocidal isothiazolinenones by high-performance liquid chromatography

[Determination of 3 isothiazolinone preservatives in toys using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry]

A rapid analytical method for the determination of 3 isothiazolinone preservatives (2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one, 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one and 1,2-benzylisothiazolin-3-one) in toys using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) has been developed. After ultrasonic extraction with water, the analytes in the sample were separated and analyzed by LC-MS/MS under the isocratic elution of methanol and water (15:85, v/v) and in selected-reaction monitoring (SRM) mode. The linear ranges of calibration curves for the 3 analytes were 2.0 - 1 000 microg/L. The limit of quantification was 0.04 mg/kg for all the 3 analytes, which was lower than that of the method recommended by the European Toy Safety Directive in EN71-11-2005. The recoveries of the spiked standards in the two toy samples were 95.9% - 105.2% and 94.7% - 102.8% with the relative standard deviation ranges from 3.04% to 4.96% and from 2.36% to 4.79%, respectively. The method was applied in the determination of 10 toy samples, and the results can meet the requirements of the European Toy Safety Directive in EN71-9-2005 for the determination of isothiazolinones in toys.