Determination of sequestering agents in cosmetics and synthetic detergents by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection

Using a fast reversible reaction of aminopolycarboxylic acids (APCAs) into Fe(III)–APCA complexes in the presence of Fe(III) ions, seven kinds of APCAs [nitrilotriacetate (NTA), N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine-triacetate (HEDTA), ethylenediamine-tetraacetate (EDTA), 1,3-propanediamine-tetraacetate (PDTA), diethylenetriamine-pentaacetate (DTPA), 1,2-diaminopropane-tetraacetate (MeEDTA), and O,O′-bis(2-aminoethyl)ethyleneglycol-tetraacetate (GEDTA)] in cosmetics and synthetic detergents were separated on two reversed-phase C30 columns connected in series and detected with ultraviolet detection. Simple pretreatment, consisted of thousand times dilution of samples and addition of 100 μl of the Fe(III) solution containing 10 mM Fe(III) chloride and 0.5 M sulfuric acid to 10 ml of diluted samples, permitted the determination of APCAs in cosmetics and synthetic detergents at concentration level of 0.1 mM, except 0.3 mM for GEDTA. APCAs except GEDTA could be detected at concentration level of 0.03 mM and GEDTA could be detected at concentration level of 0.09 mM. Good recoveries (95–110%) were obtained for each APCA by the standard addition method on two diluted samples with high accuracy (RSD 0.2–9.1%). Three APCAs (EDTA, HEDTA and NTA) were detected in various concentrations in cosmetics and synthetic detergents and the other APCAs were not detected in any of the samples. This method requires no tedious pretreatment and takes only 15 min for one analysis, so it is useful for determination of APCAs.