Sarah Oberlin

Date of Award

2017

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelors

Department

Natural Sciences

First Advisor

Shipman, Steven

Area of Concentration

Chemistry

Abstract

Forty people were reported to have had negative reactions, i.e. onycholysis and other symptoms of contact dermatitis, to certain (affected) nail polishes sold by the nail polish brand Mentality Cosmetics. The objective of my thesis was to determine if a significant difference in chemical ingredients could be found between the affected and unaffected nail polishes. Background information was given on the listed ingredients of the Mentality nail polishes, the mechanisms of irritant and allergic contact dermatitis, and potential harmful nail polish ingredients. Using LC-MS and MS/MS, only one match between the experimentally determined molecular weights and the listed ingredients of the nail polishes was found: acetyl tributyl citrate. This ingredient was found to be absent in two affected nail polishes that explicitly listed it in their ingredients lists. Rather than finding significant differences between the affected and unaffected groups, chromatograms showed multiple, distinct groups of nail polishes, which mixed both affected and unaffected nail polishes. These factors suggest that misbranding occurred. There may be unlisted ingredients present in the Mentality nail polishes.

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