[Determination of 17 ultraviolet-filters in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography]

An optimum HPLC method was developed for the simultaneous determination of 17 ultraviolet (UV)-filters in cosmetics, in which two UV-filters were included more than the 15 UV-filters specified in the Hygenic Standard for Cosmetics (HSC). Our research focused on the optimization of sample processing, chromatographic column, and mobile phase, in order to avoid the use of highly corrosive solvents as tetrahydrofuran (THF) and perchloric acid, which are used in the HSC method. The cosmetic sample was extracted by the mixed solution of THF/methanol/water. The target chemicals were separated on a Phenomenex PFP column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 microm) in gradient elution mode using water solution (containing 0.1% formic acid) and 20% methanol solution of isopropyl alcohol (containing 0.1% formic acid) as mobile phases. The detection wavelengths were set at 311 nm and 280 nm. The results of recovery tests and samples analysis indicated that the developed method can be used to simultaneously determine the 17 UV-filters in cosmetics, accurately and reliably. It is a more universal analytical method than the HSC method because common HPLC pump without improvement to adapt to corrosive THF, can be used. At the same time, the quantitative accuracy can be improved because baseline separation of all target chemicals was achieved