Determination of four parabens in cosmetics by high-performance liquid chromatography with magnetic solid-phase and ionic dispersive liquid–liquid extraction

Abstract To determine the trace amount of four benzoic acid esters in cosmetics, ionic dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) and magnetic solid-phase extraction were combined and optimized. After solvent optimization, 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was selected as the extraction solvent to form hydrophobic droplets in the process of ionic DLLME, followed by removal of ions from the sample solution containing Fe3O4@GO nano-materials. The magnetic nano-materials were characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometer. Some parameters affecting the efficiency of extraction were optimized using Box-Behnken design. Under optimized conditions, the limit of detection for all the preservatives was less than 0.135 mg/L and the accuracy ranged from 88.5% to 101%. This technology could determine the trace amount of preservatives in cosmetics with comparatively higher accuracy and sensitivity.