A gas chromatography-triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry(GC-MS/MS) with dispersive solid phase extraction(d-SPE) was developed for the determination of azo colorants in paper.The azo colorants were reduced as aromatic amines after pretreatment.Sequentially

4 mL 10 mol/L sodium hydroxide solution

0.5 mL three internal standards(naphthalene-D8

2

4

5-trichloro-aniline and anthracene-D10)working solution

10 mL tert-butyl methyl ether and 15 g anhydrous sodium sulfate were added into the suspension to adjust the pH value from faintly acid to alkaline and absorb water.The aromatic amines were extracted with 10 mL tert-butyl methyl ether via 40 min thorough oscillation.The extract was further purified with d-SPE kits.After centrifugation

the supernatant was determined by GC-MS/MS in highly sensitive and selective multiple reaction monitoring mode(MRM)

and quantified by internal standard method.There existed good linear relationships for the target compounds in respective concentration ranges

with their correlation coefficients(r2) larger than 0.99.The recoveries at three spiked levels of 10

20 and 50 ng/mL were between 80.7% and 128%

with the relative standard deviations(RSDs) of 0.79%-6.5%.The limits of detection(LODs) and limits of quantification(LOQs) were in the ranges of 0.05-2.1 ng/mL and 0.18-5.5 ng/mL

respectively.Results showed that the method was simple

rapid and sensitive

was applicable for the rapid detection of aromatic amines in paper.