Determination of antioxidants in cosmetics by micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with electrochemical detection

A new and efficient method for the determination of antioxidants [Propyl gallate (PG), tert-butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT)] in cosmetics has been established by using micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with electrochemical detection (MECC-ED). Under the optimum conditions of the method, all analytes were successfully separated within 13 min at the separation voltage of 18 kV in a 20 mmol/L borate running buffer (pH 7.4) containing 25 mmol/L sodium dodecyl sulfate. The excellent linearity was obtained in the concentration range from 5.0 × 10−4 to 2.0 × 10−6 mol/L and the detection limits (S/N = 3) of PG, TBHQ, BHA, and BHT range from 3 × 10−7 to 3 × 10−6 mol/L.