Simultaneous in-vial acetylation solid-phase microextraction followed by gas chromatography tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of multiclass organic UV filters in water

UV filters are a class of emerging contaminants that are widely used in personal care products (PCPs) and that can be detected at low concentrations in the aquatic environment (ng L−1). Sensitive modern analytical methods are then mandatory to accurately analyze them. A methodology based on solid-phase-microextraction (SPME), considered as a 'Green Chemistry' technique, followed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) has been developed for the simultaneous analysis of 14 UV filters of different chemical nature in environmental and recreational waters. In-vial low-cost derivatization was carried out to improve chromatographic performance of phenolic compounds. The extraction parameters (fiber coating, extraction mode, and salt addition) were optimized by means of experimental designs in order to achieve reliable conditions. Finally, the SPME-GC-MS/MS method was validated in terms of linearity, accuracy and precision with LODs in the low ng L−1 level. Its application to the analysis of 28 different samples including sea, river, spa, swimming pool, and aquapark waters, enabled the detection of 11 target UV filters at concentration levels up to 540 μg L−1, highlighting the presence of OCR in all analyzed samples and of 2EHMC (proposed to be considered as priority pollutant) in 79% of them.