Indoor Air

Formaldehyde, which is used as an ingredient of wood preservatives and resin products, has attracted considerable attention because it is a causative agent of the sick house syndrome. Ingredients contained in shampoos, skin lotions, foundation products, and other cosmetics are subject to particularly strict regulations because they are applied to the human body. Japan’s Standards for Cosmetics (Ministry of Health and Welfare Notification No. 331, 2000) prohibit the inclusion of formaldehyde in cosmetics. Moreover, in the EU, the content of formaldehyde in nail polish and other nail products is limited to no more than 5% under Regulation (EC) No. 1223/2009, Annex III. In this study, formaldehyde was detected in cosmetics using the HPLC method and post-column derivatization with acetylacetone, which is an established test method under the Methods of Analysis in Health Science (The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, 2015). This article introduces formaldehyde analysis using a Nexera™ Series Nexera XR ultra high performance liquid chromatograph.

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are considered to be indoor air pollutant, which could be generated from paints, household products or sometimes from outdoor air pollution [1]. It is important to monitor VOCs as it can potentially pose serious health issue to human, such as eye or nose irritation and damage to liver or even to central nervous system [1]. VOCs in air can be identified using thermal desorption system paired with gas chromatography mass spectrometer (TD-GCMS). The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 16000-6-2011 allows quantitation of single VOC to be done using either SCAN or SIM mode [2]. However, when SIM mode is used, only VOCs which are in the targeted list can be identified. Other detected VOCs will be left unidentified. On the other hand, if only SCAN mode is used, lower quantitation limits cannot be achieved. Therefore, a method capable of running both SCAN and SIM simultaneously would be ideal. Here, we describe TD-GCMS method for the analysis of VOCs in indoor air. FASST mode (Fast Automated SCAN/SIM Type) was utilised to enable the quantitation of targeted VOCs, and at the same time, the identification of untargeted VOCs. In this study, the comparison of VOCs present in different locations (rooms) was also done.