Background

Parabens are esters of p-hydroxybenzoic acid and are widely used as preservatives in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and foodstuffs. The presences of parabens in infant formulas raise concerns due to their potential to disrupt endocrine function in infants and cause reproductive toxicities.

Methods

In this study a new method was developed for extraction and determination of methylparaben in infant formulas using HPLC method and UV detector. Methanol and trichloroacetic acid were used for extraction and isocratic mobile phase comprising equal proportions of glacial acetic acid in water (50:850 v/v) and methanol was used for separation of methylparaben.

Results

Recovery of the extraction procedure was good and interferences between methylparaben and other ingredients peaks in HPLC chromatograms decreased. The average recoveries for methylparaben were about 88–108 %. The limit of detection and limit of quantitation for methylparaben were 0.2 and 0.5 µg/mL, respectively. Results of the method showed good reproducibility (relative standard deviation (RSD) 0.29–1.94 % for within day analysis and 0.84–2.18 % for between day analysis). Results were linear in range of 0.5–20 µg/mL methylparaben. The results of twenty real infant formula samples showed methylparaben was found only in one sample in concentration 0.3 µg/mL.

Conclusions

The new extraction and measurement method was a short-time method and could be applicable for large numbers of samples. This method was fast, sensitive and accurate and was capable of being used in legal laboratory references for determination of methylparaben content.

中文翻译：

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高效液相色谱法测定伊朗市场婴儿配方奶粉中对羟基苯甲酸甲酯的新方法的开发与验证

背景

对羟基苯甲酸酯是对羟基苯甲酸的酯，广泛用作化妆品、药品和食品中的防腐剂。婴儿配方奶粉中对羟基苯甲酸酯的存在引起了人们的关注，因为它们有可能破坏婴儿的内分泌功能并导致生殖毒性。

方法

本研究开发了一种采用高效液相色谱法和紫外检测器提取和测定婴儿配方奶粉中对羟基苯甲酸甲酯的新方法。甲醇和三氯乙酸用于萃取，等度流动相包含等比例的冰醋酸在水中 (50:850 v/v)，甲醇用于分离对羟基苯甲酸甲酯。

结果

提取过程的回收率良好，对羟基苯甲酸甲酯与 HPLC 色谱图中其他成分峰之间的干扰降低。对羟基苯甲酸甲酯的平均回收率约为 88-108%。对羟基苯甲酸甲酯的检测限和定量限分别为 0.2 和 0.5 µg/mL。该方法的结果显示出良好的重现性（日内分析的相对标准偏差 (RSD) 为 0.29–1.94%，日间分析的相对标准偏差 (RSD) 为 0.84–2.18%）。结果在 0.5–20 µg/mL 对羟基苯甲酸甲酯的范围内呈线性。二十个真正的婴儿配方奶粉样品的结果表明，仅在一个样品中发现了浓度为 0.3 µg/mL 的对羟基苯甲酸甲酯。

结论

新的提取和测量方法是一种短时间的方法，可适用于大量样品。该方法快速、灵敏、准确，可用于法定实验室对羟基苯甲酸甲酯含量的测定。