High-performance liquid chromatographic assay of parabens in wash-off cosmetic products and foods using chemiluminescence detection

A new method for the simultaneous determination of parabens including methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled with chemiluminescence detection was developed. The procedure was based on the chemiluminescent enhancement by parabens of the cerium(IV)-rhodamine 6G system in the strong sulfuric acid medium. The good separation of parabens was carried out with an isocratic elution using a mixture of methanol and water (60:40, v/v) within 8.5 min. Under the optimized conditions, a linear working range extends three orders of magnitude with the relative standard deviations of intra- and inter-day precision below 4.5%, and the detection limits were 1.9 × 10−9, 2.7 × 10−9, 3.9 × 10−9, and 5.3 × 10−9 g ml−1 for methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben, respectively. The chemiluminescence reaction was well compatible with the mobile phase of high-performance liquid chromatography. The proposed method has been successfully applied to the assay of parabens in wash-off cosmetic products and foods with the minimal sample preparation.