Simultaneous Determination of 80 Unapproved Compounds using HPLC and LC-MS/MS in Dietary Supplements

We developed analytical methods using high performance chromatography (HPLC) and liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) for the simultaneous determination of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements. The target compounds for analysis were unapproved ingredients (e.g., pharmaceuticals) that have potential adverse effects on consumers owing to accidental misuse, overuse, and interaction with other medication in dietary supplement. Two analytical methods were tested to identify the optimal validation results according to AOAC guideline. As a result, limit of quantification (LOQ) was 0.14-0.5 ㎍ mL^-1; linearity (r²) was ≥ 0.99; accuracy (expressed as recovery) was 78.9-114%; precision (relative standard deviation) was ≤ 4.28% in the HPLC method. In the LC-MS/MS method, LOQ was 0.01-2 ng mL^-1, linearity (r²) was ≥0.98, accuracy was 71.7-119%; precision was ≤ 12.5%. The developed methods were applied to 51 dietary supplements collected from 2019 to 2021 through MFDS alert system. Based on our previous monitoring study, major compounds were icariin, sibutramine, yohimbine, sildenafil, tadalafil, sennosides (A, B), cascarosides (A, B, C, D), and phenolphthalein. In this study, we re-analyzed samples of detected compounds, and evaluated the statistical difference using Bland-Altman analysis to compare two analytical approaches between HPLC and LC-MS/MS. These results showed a good agreement between two methods that can be used to monitor the unapproved ingredients in dietary supplements. The developed two methods are complementarily suitable for monitoring the adulteration of 80 unapproved compounds in dietary supplements.