[Studies for analyzing phenoxyethanol and parabens in commercial lotions].

Both phenoxyethanol and parabens are kinds of preservatives in cosmetics and are nominated as the restricted ingredients in cosmetics in Japanese Pharmaceutical Affairs Low. So the analytical methods for phenoxyethanol and parabens were investigated by HPLC. After adding methanol to phenoxyethanol and parabens in lotions, the testing solutions were analyzed by HPLC using the ODS column (CAPCELL PAK C18 column, 4.6 x 250 mm), the mixture either of 50 mmol/l phosphate(pH3.5) and acetonitrile (7:3) for phenoxyethanol or of 50 mmol/l phosphate buffer(pH3.5) and acetonitrile (3:2) for parabens and the detection wavelength of either 270 nm for pehnoxyethanol or 255 nm for parabens. The working curves from 0.5 to 5 micrograms/ml passed through the origin. There were no interference of peaks of phenoxyethanol and parabens from the cosmetics. Eleven lotions out of 42 lotions did not have phenoxyethanol. Phenoxyethanol in thirty-one cosmetics ranged from 0.009 to 1.043% and those average was 0.264%. Parabens, especially methylparaben, were detected in all lotions. The amounts of parabens ranged from 0.016 to 0.267% and their average was 0.120%. There were 7 kinds of lotions whose contents of phenoxyethanol and methylparaben were below 0.1%.