Simultaneous determination of nine UV filters and four preservatives in suncare products by high-performance liquid chromatography

HPLC method for quantitative determination of four preservatives and nine UV filters worldwide authorized in commercial suncare product was developed and validated, and then 101 samples of commercial suncare products were analyzed for the UV filters and preservatives using the proposed method. The mobile phase was acetonitrile-water containing 0.5% acetic acid using a gradient elution at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min and UV measurements were carried out at 320 nm for UV filters and 254 nm for preservatives. The correlation coefficients of each calibration curves were mostly higher than 0.999. The percent relative standard deviations (%RSD) ranged from 0.97% to 6.1% for five sample aliquots. The recoveries from the spiked solutions were 98-102%. 2-ethylhexyl-p-methoxycinnamate (EHMC) was detected in 96 of 101 commercial suncare products and the concentration was in the range of 3.08-8.16% and 18 samples were found to exceed the 7.5% which has been defined as the maximum allowed concentration in Korea. Methyl paraben was detected in 81 of 101 samples and the next-most often detected preservatives were propyl paraben (25), ethyl paraben (18), and butyl paraben (4). Three samples of 101 suncare products exceeded the maximum allowed concentration (i.e., 0.58-0.79%). The proposed HPLC method allows efficient and simultaneous analysis of preservatives and UV filters suitable for quality control assays of commercial suncare products.