Determination of Ten Corticosteroids in Illegal Cosmetic Products by a Simple, Rapid, and High-Performance LC-MS/MS Method

The aim of our present work was the development of a rapid high-performance liquid chromatography method with electrospray ionization and tandem mass spectrometry detection (LC-ESI-MS/MS) for the determination of several corticosteroids in cosmetic products. Corticosteroids are suspected to be illegally added in cosmetic preparations in order to enhance the curative effect against some skin diseases. Sample preparation step consists in a single extraction with acetonitrile followed by centrifugation and filtration. The compounds were separated by reversed-phase chromatography with water and acetonitrile (both with 0.1% formic acid) gradient elution and detected by ESI-MS positive and negative ionization mode. The method was validated at the validation level of 0.1 mg kg(−1). Linearity was studied in the 5–250 μg L(−1) range and linear coefficients (r(2)) were all over 0.99. The accuracy and precision of the method were satisfactory. The LOD ranged from 0.085 to 0.109 mg kg(−1) and the LOQ from 0.102 to 0.121 mg kg(−1). Mean recoveries for all the analytes were within the range 91.9–99.2%. The developed method is sensitive and useful for detection, quantification, and confirmation of these corticosteroids in cosmetic preparations and can be applied in the analysis of the suspected samples under investigation.