Development of a LC-UV method for the rapid screening of arbutin, hydroquinone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone, and clobetasol propionate in skin-whitening cosmetic products

Abstract A simple liquid chromatography method with UV detection was developed for the rapid screening of arbutin, hydroquinone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone and clobetasol propionate in four skin-whitening cosmetic products. The chromatographic conditions for their screening in less than 15 min were optimized on a Kinetex® 2.6 µm Polar C18 column (150 x 4.6 mm) with a gradient of mobile phase made of 0.025% TFA in water and acetonitrile ) and UV detection was performed at two wavelengths, 240 nm and 270 nm. Under these conditions, arbutin, hydroquinone, dexamethasone, hydrocortisone and clobetasol propionate eluted with retention time of 2.20, 3.75, 11.95, 12.58 and 12.75 min, respectively. By comparing the retention characteristics and UV spectra and the peak purity of the standard with each compound, arbutin, hydroquinone, hydrocortisone and clobetasol were identified in the milk and whitening cream products tested while dexamethasone was not found. An attempt for their quantification showed that hydroquinone was the major ingredients. The preliminary results of study show that our method is suitable for rapid screening of arbutin, hydroquinone, hydrocortisone and clobetasol propionate in skin-whitening cosmetic and, could be applied after validation to their quantitation.