Reactive Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Analysis of Formaldehyde in Facial Mask

RATIONALE: A reactive paper spray mass spectrometric approach for rapid analysis of formaldehyde (FA) in cosmetics was developed based on an on-line derivatization reaction between formaldehyde and dansyl hydrazine (DH). METHODS: The whole experimental procedure consists of three simple steps: (1) load the sample (2 μL) onto the paper; (2) add the spray solvent (10 μL DH); (3) apply a high voltage (+4.5 kV) to the sample. We used an internal standard (dansyl amide) to create the analytical calibration curve. The established approach has been successfully applied in the quantitation of FA in facial masks. RESULTS: Our approach shows good linearity for the FA concentrations between 3 and 300 μg L-1 , and the limit of detection is at 0.8 μg L-1 . Five brands of facial masks were analyzed by this approach without any sample pretreatment, and the FA contents varied from 0.05 to 2.6 mg L-1 with favorable recoveries achieved between 93.2% and 111.3%. CONCLUSIONS: This established approach presents a solution to rapid quantitation at extremely low cost of consumables and has potential as a simple, sensitive and robust strategy for the direct analysis of FA in cosmetics, food, environmental, and biological samples.