Determination of coumarin in fragrance products by capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detection.

A gas chromatographic (GC) method is described for the determination of coumarin in fragrance products. Coumarin was tentatively identified by retention time and confirmed by GC/mass spectrometry. The amount of coumarin was determined by external standard. The method was validated by conducting recovery studies from fortified fragrance products at several concentrations. Recoveries of coumarin ranged from 99 to 110%, with a relative standard deviation of 3.24. The method was used to survey a variety of fragrance products purchased in the metropolitan Washington, DC area, for coumarin. Seventy one percent of the products were found to contain coumarin at concentrations ranging from 0.002 to 0.61%.