Magnetic Solid-Phase Extraction and Ionic Liquid Dispersive Liquid–Liquid Microextraction Coupled with High-Performance Liquid Chromatography for the Determination of Hexachlorophene in Cosmetics

Abstract

An efficient, simple, and fast method based on ionic liquid dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (IL-DLLME) followed by magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) was developed as a new technique for extracting and purifying hexachlorophene (HCP) in cosmetics prior to high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination. In this method based on IL-DLLME and MSPE, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C6MIM][PF6]) is used as the extraction solvent and Fe3O4 nanoparticles are used to remove hydrophobic additives in the cosmetics by physical adsorption. The main parameters affecting the efficiency of the IL-DLLME and MSPE of HCP were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the method was linear in the range 0.5–40 µg mL−1 with a correlation coefficient (R 2) of 0.9976 and had a detection limit of 0.14 µg mL−1 at a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) of 3. The recoveries of HCP in three cosmetic samples using the proposed method were in the range 74.5–97.7%, and the relative standard deviations (RSD, n = 5) were in the range 3.8–6.7%. The developed method was successfully applied to the determination of HCP in cosmetics.