Determination of preservatives in cosmetics, cleaning agents and pharmaceuticals using fast liquid chromatography.

This paper reports the development of a method for simultaneously determining five preservatives in cosmetics, cleaning agents and pharmaceuticals by fast liquid chromatography. Methylisothiazolinone, methylchloroisothiazolinone, benzyl alcohol, sodium benzoate and methylparaben were separated on a Chromolith Fast Gradient reversed-phase 18e column using gradient elution with acetonitrile and a 0.1% aqueous solution of formic acid, with a run time of 3 min.