Determination of Parabens in Cosmetic Samples by Sub-Minute High-Performance Liquid Chromatography Method

This research was developed to a sub-minute separation method and simultaneous determination of methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben in cosmetic samples by high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detector for simultaneous determination of methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben and butylparaben in cosmetic samples. Parabens were separated on a Chromolith column using gradient elution with acetonitrile and water, the flow rate of 1.3 mL  min -1 and detected at 254 nm.  Under the optimal conditions, the separation was completed in less than 1 min. Calibration curves for standard solution of parabens  were linear over the concentration range of 0.50-10.0 mg L -1 with R 2 greater than 0.999. The limits of detection and limits of quantification of parabens were found between 0.12-0.15 mg L -1 , and 0.40-0.45 mg L -1 , respectively. The accuracy in terms of percent recovery of parabens was in the range of 97.2-102.6. Repeatability and reproducibility of the method were in the range of 1.11-1.50% and 2.30-2.70%, respectively. The development method could be applied to the simultaneous determination of parabens in cosmetic samples. Keywords: high-performance liquid chromatography, sub-minute, paraben, cosmetic