Abstract: The purpose of this lab was to measure the wavelengths and absorption levels of different sunscreens, then

match the wavelengths measured with those of the active ingredients in each of them. This was accomplished by applying a thin sample of each sunscreen to the inside of a cuvette and measuring the absorbance in a Wavescan machine from 200 nm to 400 nm. In this lab, the active ingredients octocrylene and oxyben one were identified in the !awaiian Tropic sample, octocrylene only in the "anana "oat sample, and octocrylene, oxyben one, octisalate, and homosalate were all identified in the #eutrogena sample. Introduction: The purpose of this lab was to measure the wavelengths and absorption levels of different sunscreens, then match the wavelengths measured with those of the active ingredients in each of them. $unscreens are substances designed to bloc% ultraviolet &'() radiation from the sun to protect your s%in, specifically '(* and '(" radiation. The ultraviolet section of the light spectrum covers 200 to 400 nanometers, which was the range measured in this experiment. '(* radiation, which ma%es up most of '( radiation reaching human s%in, extends from +20 to 400 nm. '(" radiation extends from +20 to 2,0 nm. The rest of the spectrum is identified as '(-, which is largely bloc%ed by o one in the atmosphere, and does not typically reach earth. This bloc%ing occurs due to the absorption of '(radiation in oxygen &.2) and o one &.+). This causes a cycle of reactions to occur in the upper atmosphere / '( radiation causes o one to lose an oxygen atom, becoming an oxygen atom. The free oxygen atom combines with another o one molecule, forming two more oxygen molecules. The oxygen molecules cycle bac% to being o one when '( radiation causes oxygen to split into two oxygen atoms, which combine with other oxygen molecules to form o one molecules. The protective 0ualities of sunscreens come from one or more of a number of active ingredients, which are avoben one, octocrylene, octisalate, oxyben one, octinoxate, and homosalate. .xyben one, avoben one, and octocrylene all bloc% '(* radiation, and octinoxate, octisalate, and homosalate all bloc% '(" radiation. Data: Wavelength &nm) !awaiian Tropic &$12 4) 223 20, 23+ 27, "anana "oat &$12 +0) 203 204 226 2,6 #eutrogena &$12 46) 208 *bsorbance 0.34+ 0.324 0.333 0.340 0.+4+ 0.22, 0.663 0.468 0.4+6 *voben one &+5), *voben one &+5), .ctocrylene &.0265) *ctive Ingredients .ctocrylene &35), .xyben one&0.65)

23+ 24+ 2,4

0.464 0.,0+ 0.43+

.ctocrylene &45), .ctisalate &65), .xyben one &65), !omosalate &45)

Results: Known properties of sunscreen active ingredients: .xyben one *voben one .ctinoxate '( "and 9ax &nm) '(* 243, 277, +74 '(* +40 '(" 2+7, +0+, +30

.ctisalate '(" 2+7, +06

!omosalate '(" 2+7, +06

.ctocrylene '(* :220, +06

Identified active ingredients:

.bserved 9ax ;iven 9ax Wavelength&nm) Wavelength&nm) 1ossible *ctive *ctive 1resent 9ost <i%ely *ctive Ingredient

!awaiian Tropic &$12 4) "anana "oat &$1! +0)

223 27, 226 2,6

:220 277 :220 +06

.ctocrylene .ctocrylene, .ctocrylene &35) .xyben one .xyben one .xyben one &0.65) .ctocrylene *voben one .ctocrylene &0.265) .ctisalate .ctocrylene .ctocrylene &0.265) !omosalate .ctocrylene .ctinoxate .ctocrylene *voben one .xyben one .ctocrylene .ctisalate .ctinoxate .xyben one .ctisalate !omosalate !omosalate .ctisalate !omosalate .ctocrylene .ctocrylene &45) .xyben one &65), .ctisalate &45), !omosalate &45) .ctisalate &45), !omosalate &45), .ctocrylene &45)

+30 #eutrogena &$1! 46) 23+ 24+ :220 243 2+7

2,4

+06

Discussion: In the !awaiian Tropic sample, the ingredients octocrylene and oxyben one were identified. In the "anana "oat sample, only octocrylene was identified. In the #eutrogena sample, octocrylene, oxyben one, octisalate, and homosalate were identified. =ven though both the "anana "oat and #eutrogena samples contained avoben one, no wavelength recorded was close enough to the maximum wavelength given to be considered a match. Data Analysis Questions:

3. . one absorbs the maximum amount of '( light at about 260 nm. 2. . one does not absorb visible light. 2rom the scan of o one from 200>400 nm, it can be seen that o one has maximum absorption at around 260 nm, and as the scan goes closer to visible light &400nm), the absorption goes down significantly, flatlining at about +60nm. +. "ecause o one already absorbs harmful '( radiation around the wavelength of 260 nm, the ingedients used in sunscreen don?t have maximum wavelengths absorbed around there. Instead, they typically have maximum absorption wavelengths in the '(* and '(" spectrums, from 2,0>400 nm. 4. The ingredients oxyben one and avoben one absorb wavelengths in the '(* spectrum. This would indicate that they are used in sunscreens to bloc% '(* radiation. The ingredients oxyben one, octinoxate, octisalate, homosalate, and octocrylene all absorb wavelengths in the '(" spectrum, which would indicate that they are used in sunscreens to bloc% '(" radiation. 6. *ll of the active ingredients in the sunscreens have a double bonded oxygen atom that is only connected to one other atom in the structure. This is similar to the structure of o one &although the atom is bonded to a carbon atom in all of the active ingredients, but bonded to another oxygen atom in o one), so it is li%ely that that portion of the structure is what absorbs '( light. It could also be the hexagonal structure formed of six carbon atoms, but this structure is fairly common in molecules, and is not present in o one, so that?s less li%ely. 2rom the different wavelengths absorbed in each sample and the different absorption levels of each, the use of multiple active ingredients in sunscreen is clear. '( radiation covers a large part of the light spectrum, and no one substance protects the s%in from all of it. -onse0uentially, sunscreen manufacturers use a variety of '(>bloc%ing ingredients in their products, all of which have some similarity to o one in the lone oxygen double bond. *lso, from the linear relationship between percent concentration and absorbency suggested in the data &the !awaiian Tropic sunscreen, with lower concentrations of active ingredients than the #eurogena, also has lower absorbance overall, with "anana "oat in the middle of the two), a conclusion can be drawn that higher $12 sunscreens use higher concentrations of active ingredients to protect the s%in more effectively over a longer period of time. Error Analysis: * number of errors occurred that led to inaccurate results. #o avoben one was detected from the results, due to the fact that most of the pea%s measured in data collection were at the lower end of the 200>400 nm scale. When ta%ing down results, there was a vast number of potential @pea%sA to measure, and not all were recorded. 9ost of the more distinct, sharper pea%s were between 200>+00 nm, which were the ones recorded for data analysis. If the pea%s of the active ingredients being identified were %nown beforehand, or if more time was available to detail every single pea% in the spectrum, the data would have been more conclusive. =very other ingredient was detected with some amount of accuracy, but the higher wavelengths &li%e +74 nm for oxyben one) were not detected, probably for the same reason. *lso, the given @%nownA values are not completely accurate, due to different people gathering different results with different machines using different methods. 9atching wavelength data to similar %nown values instead of exact ones mitigates this somewhat, but it?s hard to %now how much of a difference there would be between how we gathered the data and a professional from whom the %nown data came from. =specially considering the machines used had no sample covers. 'sing hands instead

of plastic covers could have let artificial light in, which would alter the wavelengths measured. *dditionally, the application of sunscreen was not uniform in each cuvette, which could have led to altered absorption measurements. It could explain the very high absorption &.,0+) at 24+ nm when scanning the #eutrogena sample. That value was significantly higher than the other wavelengths in the same sample, unli%e the other two samples, which had relatively close absorption levels. The age or purity of the sunscreen could also have affected results, but details of how these substances brea% down is un%nown, so the error is un%nown as well.