ABSTRACT
An accurate, fast and sensitive method based on high performance liquid chromatography was established for the simultaneous determination of eleven ultra-violet absorbents in cosmetics. Eleven ultra-violet absorbents were baseline separated on an Acclaim C18 column within 11. 5 min using acetonitrile-0. 1%formic acid in water ( V/V) mobile phase, and detected at 361 nm with UV detection. Under the optimized conditions, the relative standard derivations ( RSDs) of the eleven ultra-violet absorbents were all less than 0. 1% for retention time, and less than 1. 2% for peak area; good linearity was obtained from 5 to and 500 mg/L with the correlation coefficients of above 0 . 9990 for these analytes; the recoveries spiked in a cosmetic sample were in the range of 77% -116%. Benzophenone-3, butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane, ethylhexylsalicylatec and homosalate were found in the detected cosmetic samples, and the concentration of homosalate was the highest. The results indicated that this method had potential for applications due to its convenience, accuracy and sensitivity. Oxybenzone, butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane, 2-ethylhexyl salicylatec and homosalate were found in the detected cosmetic samples, and the concentration of homosalate was the highest.