<p>The presence of harmful substances in cosmetic
products is regulated in most countries. In the European Union the Regulation
(EC) No. 1223/2009 lays down the requirements for the marketing of cosmetic
products. Among others, important families of compounds restricted in the
Regulation are musks, allergenic fragrances and phthalates. To ensure product
safety, improved analytical methods capable of reliably
and reproducibly detecting the presence of traces of prohibited and/or restricted
ingredients in raw materials and finished products are required. </p>
<p>For the continuous improvement of the reliability of the analytical methods
developed to check the compliance of cosmetic products with the Regulation, the
use of appropriate surrogate standards or contaminants (substances that are
added to the samples to be analyzed to establish the recovery and the
reproducibility of the quantification of the analytes) are of utmost
importance. One of the best kinds of
surrogate standards are isotopically labeled analogs of the analytes of
interest. In this work, several synthetic methods have been developed to prepare
isotopically labeled analogs of atranol, chloroatranol, di-n-octylphthalate,
musk xylene, and musk ambrette, which are restricted substances in cosmetic
articles.</p>