Extraction and Quantification of Parabens from Baby Wash and Shampoo Using Novum™ Simplified Liquid Extraction (SLE) and LC/UV

Introduction

Parabens (esters of para-hydroxy benzoic acid) are widely used as food additives and synthetic preservatives in cosmetics and personal care products as well as in pharmaceutical formulations. Common types include methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, n-propyl paraben, and n-butyl paraben (Figure 1). Parabens are also used in combination with other preservatives to safeguard against an extensive range of microorganisms. It has been disputed that parabens can also be linked to breast cancer and other reproductive issues which have led to an onset of studies to determine the role that parabens play in diseases. It is therefore of the utmost importance to have a quantitative method that can accurately monitor paraben levels in food and other personal care products. In this technical note we describe a simple extraction procedure to quantitate four of the most commonly used parabens from baby wash using Novum Simplified Liquid Extraction (SLE) products in conjunction with a Kinetex^® EVO C18 5 μm core-shell HPLC column.