Analysis of 7 synthetic musks in cream by supported liquid extraction and solid phase extraction followed by GC–MS/MS

A new method for the simultaneous determination of 7 synthetic musks (musk amberette, musk tibetene, musk moskene, musk ketone, musk xylene, phantolide, and tonalide) in cream by means of supporting liquid extraction (SLE) coupled with LC-Alumina-N SPE, then followed by GC–MS/MS has been established. In this study, 7 synthetic musks are extracted and pre-purified by a mixture solution of water and isopropanol from cream, and separated and purified by tandem columns containing SLE column and LC-Alumina-N SPE column, which were seldom reported before. Ultrasonic and mechanical shaking were applied to improve the extraction efficiency. Different experiment conditions, such as the type of extraction solution, extraction time of ultrasonic and mechanical shaking, the type of SLE and SPE column, and matrix effects were optimized and the recoveries of 7 synthetic musks for each part were above 86.61%. In addition, the use of isotope internal standards was systemically discussed. The method showed satisfactory linearity over the range assayed (5–1000 ng g−1), and the limits of detections (LODs) ranged from 0.15 to 4.86 ng g−1, and the limits of quantifications (LOQs) were ranging from 0.49 to 16.21 ng g−1. The recoveries using this method at three spiked concentration levels (10, 100, and 1000 ng g−1) range from 85.6% to 109%. The relative standard deviation was lower than 9.8% in all case. The proposed analytical method has been successfully applied for the analysis of 7 synthetic musks in commercial cream.