Establishment of an Analysis Method and Screening Database for Illegal Addition of 40 Sex Hormones in Cosmetics Based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MS

OBJECTIVE To establish an analysis method and screening database based on UPLC-Q-TOF-MSⁿ for illegal addition of 40 sex hormones in cosmetics. METHODS The gradient elution was carried out on Agilent SB-C₁₈ column (2.1 mm×50 mm, 1.8 μm), 0.1% formic acid water and acetonitrile were used as mobile phase in positive ion mode, water and acetonitrile were used as mobile phase in negative ion mode, the flow rate was 0.2 mL·min^-1, the column temperature was 35℃. MS detection was carried out by electrospray ionization(ESI)mass spectrometer in Scan MS and Targeted MS/MS mode. The accurate mass, retention time and MS/MS mass spectrum of 40 sex hormones were imported into PCDL software to establish a rapid screening database. RESULTS The established method and database was used to screen 100 batches of cosmetics, and one batch of hair-growing product was detected with a small amount of progesterone. CONCLUSION The established analysis method and screening database including 40 sex hormones is fast, sensitive and accurate, which is suitable for high-throughput screening and accurate qualitative analysis of sex hormones adulterants in cosmetics.