Abstract
Hydroquinone (HDQ) is a natural depigmenting agent, which is commonly used in skin-toning preparations. The safety and greenness of analytical methods of HDQ quantification were not considered in previous literature. Therefore, a highly sensitive and ecologically greener reversed-phase high-performance thin-layer chromatography (RP-HPTLC)-based assay was established for HDQ estimation in four different commercial whitening creams (CWCs). The binary ethanol–water (60:40, v·v−1) mixture was utilized as the green solvent system. The estimation of HDQ was carried out at 291 nm. The present RP-HPTLC-based assay was linear in the 20–2400 ng band−1 range. The present analytical method was highly sensitive based on the detection and quantification data. The other validation parameters, such as accuracy, precision, and robustness, were also suitable for the determination of HDQ. Maximum HDQ quantities were obtained in CWC A (1.23% w·w−1) followed by CWC C (0.81% w·w−1), CWC D (0.43% w·w−1), and CWC B (0.37% w·w−1). The analytical GREEnness (AGREE) score for the present analytical method was estimated as 0.91, indicating the excellent greener characteristics of the present RP-HPTLC assay. These results suggest that the present analytical method is highly sensitive and ecologically sustainable for the quantitation of HDQ in its commercial formulations.
Highlights
Hydroquinone (HDQ) is a natural compound, which is present in several skin-toning commercial formulations for the treatment of melasma [1,2]
asymmetry factor (As) wide range of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based assays have been documented for the determination of HDQ along with its ethers in a variety of commercial whitening creams (CWCs) and commercial whitening products (CWPs) [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]
The % recovery was obtained at low QC (LQC) (20 ng band−1), middle QC (MQC) (600 ng band−1), and high QC (HQC) (2400 ng band−1) for the present analytical method
Summary
Hydroquinone (HDQ) is a natural compound, which is present in several skin-toning commercial formulations for the treatment of melasma (a disease caused by the over accumulation of melanin in human skin) [1,2]. It is a potent depigmenting agent and used as an alternative to tyrosinase [3]. A wide range of high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-based assays have been documented for the determination of HDQ along with its ethers in a variety of CWCs and CWPs [14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22,23]. The present analytical assay for HDQ analysis was validated according to the International Council for Harmonization (ICH) Q2 (R1) guidelines [44]
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