Detection of trace levels of selected allergic chemicals in commercial hair dyes in local market of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

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Hair dyes are now commonly used in Saudi Arabia, and other nations across the world, to cover up grey hairs and/or to modify the natural color of the hair. The principal ingredients of hair dyes are aromatic amines and phenols and which most likely cause allergic reactions, irritated skin, and even cancer in certain cases. Thus, the current study reports the separation and subsequent identification of four chemical constituents namely p-Phenylenediamine (PPD), 3-aminophenol (3AP), resorcinol (RES), and 2-methylresorcinol (2MRS) in 26 commercial hair dyes that represent ten famous brands available in the local market of Jeddah city, Saudi Arabia. High-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) technique was successfully employed to identify the four chemical compounds using methanol-aqueous solution (10:90 v/v) containing diethanolamine (0.05 %) and ammonium acetate (0.02 M) at pH 5.2 as a proper mobile phase. The column was 150 × 4.6 mm ID and 5 µm Eclipse Plus C18 column and the retention times were 1.26, 3.16, 4.99 and 6.01 min for PPD, 3AP, RES, and 2MRS, respectively. The four standards PPD, 3AP, RES, and 2MRS at 254 nm displayed excellent linear calibration plots in the concentration range 5–100 µg/mL with acceptable correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.9964, 0.9980, 0.9952 and 0.9961, respectively. The low limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) based on the standard deviation of the response and the slopes of the plots were found to be equal 7.17, 5.39, 8.33, and 7.47 µg/mL and 23.91, 17.97, 27.75, 24.89 µg/mL for PPD, 3AP, RES, and 2MRS, respectively.