Ultrasound-assisted hydrolysis of conjugated parabens in human urine and their determination by UPLC-MS/MS and UPLC-HRMS.

Parabens are preservatives widely used in personal care products, pharmaceutical formulations as well as in food, and they are considered endocrine disruptors. For application in biomonitoring studies we developed a method for the determination of eight parabens from human urine. Sample preparation was enhanced and simplified by the combination of ultrasound-assisted enzymatic hydrolysis of conjugates (glucuronide and sulfate) followed by an extraction-free cleanup step. Quantification, using deuterated parabens as internal standards, was performed by ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography coupled to either triple-quadrupole (UPLC-QqQ) or time-of-flight (UPLC-QqTOF) mass spectrometry. Full chromatographic separation of three butyl paraben isomers was achieved. Limits of quantification for both mass analyzers ranged from 0.1 to 0.5 μg/L for methyl, ethyl, n-/isopropyl, n-/isobutyl, and benzyl paraben in 200 μL of urine sample. The method was tested for applicability and showed high precision (intra- and interday 0.9-14.5%) as well as high accuracy (relative recovery 95-132%). A total of 39 urine samples were analyzed by both mass analyzers. The results agreed well, with a trend to higher deviation at low concentrations (less than 10 μg/L). Methyl, ethyl, and n-propyl paraben were detected most frequently (in more than 87% of the samples) with median concentrations ranging from 0.8 to 16.6 μg/L. Female urine showed higher median concentrations for all parabens, which may indicate higher exposure due to lifestyle. This method permits accurate and high-throughput analysis of parabens for epidemiological studies. Further, the UPLC-QqTOF approach provides additional information on human exposure to other compounds by post-acquisition analysis.