GC-MS Determination of Undeclared Phthalate Esters in Commercial Fragrances: Occurrence, Profiles and Assessment of Carcinogenic and Non-Carcinogenic Risk Associated with Their Consumption among Adult Consumers.

Phthalates are chemicals that are extensively used in the manufacturing of cosmetic products. The occurrence of phthalate esters in personal care products may pose adverse effects on consumers' health. In this work, a simple, fast and reliable GC-MS method was developed and validated for concurrent determination of phthalate esters in fragrances. Simple procedures were employed for sample preparation and clean up. The recoveries achieved were in the range of 94.9% to 105.6% with RSD ≤ 4.06. The detection limits were in the range of 0.0010 to 0.0021 µg/mL. The GC-MS method was utilized to investigate the occurrence of phthalate esters in different brands of perfumes sold in the Saudi Arabian market. Diethyl phthalate was detected in all analyzed samples, with a maximum concentration of 5766 µg/mL, and di (2-ethylhexyl) phthalate was detected in the majority of the analyzed samples (95%), with a mean concentration of 55.9 µg/mL and a highest concentration of 377.7 µg/mL. Additionally, the exposure to phthalate esters due to the consumption of perfumes was investigated among the adult Saudi population for the first time. It was found that the systemic exposure dose, measured at mean concentrations, ranged from 4.59 × 10