HPLC determination of rhodamine B (C.I. 45170) in cosmetic products

Summary A method is proposed for the extraction, separation, identification and quantitative measurement of rhodamine B in cosmetics samples The colour is extracted with a solution of orthophosphoric acid in either water or DMF (depending on the type of cosmetic) adsorbed on a polyamide column, and then eluted with water and methanol. Further clean-up of the extract is performed by means of a Bond Elut C-18 cartridge, from which rhodamine B is eluted with methanol-water (82). The final eluate is examined by HPLC. Chromatography is performed on a C-18 column with a gradient elution from 5050 to 7030 of acetonitrile-water, containing 0.1 M sodium perchlorate, in 15 min. A diodearray detector enables peak purity analysis. The method gives recovery values of approximately 90%, or better, and the reproducibility is within 4%.