A suspects screening workflow towards total per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances in cosmetics with time-of-flight mass spectrometry

Abstract

In response to growing concerns over PFAS exposure from cosmetics, this study developed a level-5a (Suspect Screening Exact Mass Match) PFAS suspect screening protocol using liquid chromatography and time-of-flight high-resolution mass spectrometry to identify PFAS in 35 U.S.-market cosmetic products. A screening workflow developed by a Native PFAS Precision and Recovery Standards Solution, containing 30 typical PFAS, enabled maximum-likelihood suspect identification against a PFAS list of 3,882 compounds from National Institute of Standards and Technology with least false-negatives and false-positives. PFAS suspects were identified in 34 of 35 samples, with 13 samples containing over 10 unique PFAS suspects. Powder-based cosmetics exhibited more PFAS suspects than cream-based products. Targeted analysis with 30 PFAS standards via Triple Quadrupole LC-MS/MS confirmed 26 of the 218 identified suspects. These results underscore the feasibility of the total PFAS suspects in cosmetics and highlight the need for stricter regulation of fluorinated ingredients and further research on dermal PFAS exposure.