Simultaneous detection of five biocides in household products by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A gas chromatography-mass spectrometric method was developed for determining 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (CMIT), 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (MIT), 1,2-benzisothiazolin-3-one (BIT), 3-iodo-2-propynyl butyl carbamic acid (IPBC) and benzoic acid (BA) in household products. A 0.5 g sample was placed in a test tube and dissolved with 5 mL water, 5 mL methylene chloride and 1.0 mL methanol. The solution was extracted by ultra-sonication followed by mechanical shaking using the salting out effect. Under the established condition, the lowest quantification limits of all analytes were in the range of 0.04-10 mg/kg and their relative standard deviations were less than 8.0 %. The method was used to analyze 10 household products. As a result of analyzing 10 household products, MIT was detected in the range of 1.2-3.5 mg/kg in 3 of 10 samples, CMIT was detected in the range of 2.6-8.2 mg/kg in 3 of 10 samples, and BA was detected in the range of 5.0-15 mg/kg in 4 of 10 samples. Meanwhile, BIT and IPBC were not detected in any of the products. It has been shown that this method can be used for the simultaneous determination of biocides with various physical and chemical properties in household products.