Investigations on the uptake and transformation of sunscreen ingredients in duckweed (Lemna gibba) and Cyperus alternifolius using high-performance liquid chromatography drift-tube ion-mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry

• Published in: Journal of Chromatography A Vol. 1613; p. 460673
• Main Authors: Seyer, Alexandra, Mlynek, Franz, Himmelsbach, Markus, Buchberger, Wolfgang, Klampfl, Christian W.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 22.02.2020
• Subjects: Drift-tube ion mobility-mass spectrometry; Environmental analysis; Personal care products; Plant metabolism; Sunscreen; UV-filters; Personal care products; UV-filters; Plant metabolism; Environmental analysis; Sunscreen; Drift-tube ion mobility-mass spectrometry
• ISSN: 0021-9673
• DOI: 10.1016/j.chroma.2019.460673

•Model plants were grown in water contaminated (spiked) with three UV-filters.•The UV-filters and several transformation products compounds were detected in plant extracts.•Combining information from chromatography, ion-mobility-, and mass spectrometry allowed proposing structures.•Concentration of UV-filters and their transformation products were monitored over time.•UF-filters and transformation products can be detected in plants treated real sunscreen. The uptake, translocation and transformation of three UV-blockers commonly employed in sunscreens, namely avobenzone, octocrylene and octisalate from water by Lemna gibba and Cyperus alternifolius was investigated. Reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography coupled to drift-tube ion-mobility quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry was used for analyzing the extracts from the selected plants after incubation with the UV-blockers for one week. For avobenzone several transformation products resulting from hydroxylation, demethylation and oxidation of the parent molecule could be identified by measuring accurate mass, performing MS/MS experiments and by determining their drift-tube collision cross sections employing nitrogen as drift gas. In addition, the plants were subjected to two commercially available sunscreens, providing similar results to those obtained for the standard solutions of the UV-blockers. Finally, a kinetic study on the uptake and transformation of avobenzone, octocrylene and octisalate was conducted over a period of 216 h, revealing that the UV-filters were mostly present in their parent form and only to a smaller part converted into transformation products.