Personal care products (PCPs) are used for daily health care, refreshment, cosmetology, and disinfection etc. The compounds or products may be disposed improperly then enter the environment. Although the concentrations of PCPs were usually at trace amount in waters, it is still a concern on their potential adverse effects on aquatic creatures and human health. This project targeted 29 critical chemicals at eight categories, including analgesics, hormones, ingredients in detergent/disinfectant, suntan lotions, preservatives in cosmetics, repellent, stimulant, and health food with herbal medicine, which included diclofenac、indomethacine、ibuprofen、acetaminophen、ketoprofen、naproxen、acetylsalicylic acid、fenoprofen、aminopyrine、phenazone、meclofenamic acid、17α-ethynyl estradiol、estrone、17β-estradiol、estriol、finasteride、triclosan、4-chloro-3,5-xylenol、nonylphenol (NP)、oxybenzone、methylbenzylidene camphor、benzophenone、methyl paraben、ethyl paraben、propyl paraben、butyl paraben、DEET、caffeine、huperzine A. A method to extract them from water and followed by the determination using ultra-performance liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry (UPLC/MS/MS) with electrospray ionization (ESI) has been developed and validated. Water samples were extracted with 50-mm PolarPlus C18 speedisk using automatied solid-phase extraction system, and eluted with methanol and dichloromethane. The eluent was concentrated to 0.5 mL and added 0.3 mL milli-Q water and then concentrated to 0.5 mL. Analytes forming positive ions were separated on a Kinetex PFP column (50 × 2.1 mm, 2.6 μm), and chemicals forming negative ions were done on a Ascentis Express C18 column (50 × 2.1 mm, 2.7 μm). Water samples were collected from 22 representative points of three main streams in Southern Taiwan. In addition, wastewater samples from influents, after primary treatment, after secondary treatment, and effluents were grabbed from three wastewater treatment plants in Northern Taiwan. The compounds of acetaminphen、finasteride、oxybenzone、benzophenone、nonylphenol、DEET、caffeine、methyl paraben and butyl paraben were detected in more than 77% of surface water samples. The highest concentrations were found to be acetaminphen 338 ng/L, oxybenzone 242 ng/L, benzophenone 753 ng/L and NP 756 ng/L. The results indicated that PCPs would have been widely distributed in rivers of the southern Taiwan. The highest concentrations of compounds found in influent of sewage treatment plants were acetaminophen and caffeine. Acetaminophen concentration was 32,449 ng/L, 22,131 ng/L and 26,250 ng/L, caffeine concentration was 13,084 ng/L and 14,362 ng/L and 25,207 ng/L.

Personal care products, LC/MS/MS, Sewage, Surface water, Solid-phase extraction