[Determination of sunscreen agents in cosmetic products by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography]

A method for quantitative determination of eleven sunscreen agents (benzophenone-4,p-amino-benzoic acid, salicylic acid, benzophenone-3,phenyl salicylate, 4-methylbenzylidene camphor, octyl dimethyl p-amino-benzoate, isopropyl dibenzoylmethane, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, octyl methoxycinnamate, octyl salicylate) in cosmetic products is described. It was based on a high performance liquid chromatographic separation under the condition of isocratic elution with a mixture solution of methanol-THF-water-70% perchloric acid (200:200:160:0.1) by using a column packed with 10 microns YWG-C15 and UV detection. The recoveries (n = 6) were 94.1%-101% and the relative standard deviations(n = 6) for all eleven sunscreen agents were less than 5%. In addition, the results of analysis of 30 samples out of 103 samples of commercial suntan cosmetics performed are reported in this paper.