Trace determination of parabens in cosmetics and personal care products using fabric-phase sorptive extraction and high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection.

A simple, fast, and sensitive analytical protocol using fabric-phase sorptive extraction followed by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection has been developed and validated for the extraction of five parabens including methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, butylparaben, and benzylparaben. In the present work, sol-gel polyethylene glycol coated fabric-phase sorptive extraction membrane is used for the preconcentration of parabens (polar) from complex matrices. The use of fabric-phase sorptive extraction membrane provides a high surface area which offers high sorbent loading, shortened equilibrium time, and overall decrease in the sample preparation time. Various factors affecting the performance of fabric-phase sorptive extraction, including extraction time, eluting solvent, elution time, and pH of the sample matrix, were optimized. Separation was performed using a mobile phase consisting of water:acetonitrile (63:37; v/v) at an isocratic elution mode at a flow rate of 0.9 mL/min with wavelength at 254 nm. The calibration curves of the target analytes were prepared with good correlation coefficient values (r  > 0.9955). The limit of detection values range from 0.252 to 0.580 ng/mL. Finally, the method was successfully applied to various cosmetics and personal care product samples such as rose water, deodorant, hair serum, and cream with extraction recoveries ranged between 88 and 122% with relative standard deviation <5%.