Sensitive and Eco-Friendly Determination of Parabens in Toothpaste Using Ionic Liquid-Based DLLME Coupled with HPLC-PDA

Authors

  • Feras Abujaber Arab American University
  • Faady Siouri

Keywords:

Toothpaste; ionic liquid; dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction; parabens; HPLC-PDA; preservatives

Abstract

An environmentally friendly ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (IL-DLLME) method was developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of four parabens, methylparaben (MP), ethylparaben (EP), propylparaben (PP) and butylparaben (BP) in commercial toothpastes using high-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detector (HPLC-PDA). Hydrophobic ionic liquid 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [C₄mim][PF₆] and acetonitrile were chosen as extractant and dispersion solvent, respectively. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency such as pH of the sample solution, dispersion time, volume of the ionic liquid, volume of the dispersion solvent, ionic strength and centrifugation time were optimized by the univariate method. Calibration curves were linear in the range of 100–1000 μg L⁻¹ under optimum conditions with correlation coefficients (R²) of 0.9949–0.9988.. Limits of detection and quantification ranged from 0.69 to 1.01 μg L⁻¹ and 1.23 to 1.70 μg L⁻¹, respectively. Relative standard deviations for intra- and inter-day analyses (n = 5) were less than 8.4%. The method provided enrichment factors of 120–135 and recovery values ranging from 90.4% to 101.5%.

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Published

2026-09-30

How to Cite

Abujaber, F., & Siouri, F. (2026). Sensitive and Eco-Friendly Determination of Parabens in Toothpaste Using Ionic Liquid-Based DLLME Coupled with HPLC-PDA. AAUP Journal of STEM and Health Sciences, 1(2), 13–24. Retrieved from https://jsh-aaup.aaup.edu/index.php/jsh-aaup/article/view/47

Issue

Vol. 1 No. 2 (2026): From Molecules to Intelligent Systems: Advancing Health, Materials, and Technology

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2026 © 2026 The Author(s). Published by Arab American University. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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