Determination of alpha-arbutin, beta-arbutin and niacinamide in cosmetics by high performance liquid chromatography

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of two optical isomers of arbutin (alpha-arbutin and beta-arbutin) and niacinamide in cosmetics was developed. The samples were extracted by the mixture of salt water and chloroform (2:1, v/v). The separation was performed on an ODS-BP column (200 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 mu m, Elite) with methanol-water (10:90; v/v) as the mobile phase at a flow rate of 0.5 mL/min and 25 degrees C. The detection wavelength was set at 220 nm and the sample injection volume was 20 mu L. There were good linear relationships between the mass concentration and the peak areas of alpha-arbutin, beta-arbutin and niacinamide in the ranges of 0.07 - 50, 0.06 - 50 and 0.05 - 50 mg/L, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 7) of alpha-arbutin, beta-arbutin and niacinamide were 1.65%, 1.73% and 1.33%, respectively. The proposed method has been applied for the determination of alpha-arbutin, beta-arbutin and niacinamide in cosmetics with recoveries of 91.7% - 109. 6%. This method is rapid, simple and suitable for the detection of whitening ingredients in cosmetic.