Abstract: A rapid analytical method for the determination of five coumarins （coumarin, 7-methoxycoumarin, dihydrocoumarin, 7-methyl coumarin and 7-ethoxy-4-methyl coumarin） in toys by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry （HPLC-MS/MS） has been developed. After ultrasonic extraction in tetrahydrofuran, the samples were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS in multi-reaction monitoring （MRM） mode. Acetonitrile and 0.1% acetic acid were used as the mobile phases with gradient elution. The linear ranges of calibration curves were 10~1000 μg/L, and the limits of quantification （LOQ） （S/N>10） were 2.0 μg/L for all the analytes, except that the LOQ for dihydrocoumarin was 5.0 μg/L. The recoveries of the five coumarins spiked in three types of samples were in the ranges of 93.2%~105.8%, 97.3%~ 103.2% and 96.8%~102.9%, with the relative standard deviations in the ranges of 4.35%~8.27%, 3.65%~6.73% and 4.03%~6.45%, respectively. The method was applied in the determination of 12 toy samples. The five analytes were found in 9 samples, and in some cases, the presence of quite high concentrations of these coumarins in the toys should be a matter of concern.

Key words: coumarins, fragrance allergens, toys, high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS)