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Analytical Letters
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To cite this article: Jong Sup Jeon , Myoung Jin Lee , Mi Hye Yoon , Jin-A Park , Hee Yi , Hee-Jung Cho
& Ho-Chul Shin (2014) Determination of Arbutin, Niacinamide, and Adenosine in Functional Cosmetic
Products by High-Performance Liquid Chromatography, Analytical Letters, 47:10, 1650-1660, DOI:
10.1080/00032719.2014.883517
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Analytical Letters, 47: 1650–1660, 2014
Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 0003-2719 print=1532-236X online
DOI: 10.1080/00032719.2014.883517
Liquid Chromatography
INTRODUCTION
Cosmetics are widely used to improve the appearance and health of skin.
Functional cosmetics (cosmeceuticals) are used to restore the structure and functions
of the body. Materials used include plant and animal extracts and marine materials
(Amit et al. 2007; Cha et al. 2010; Draelos 2012). According to the Korean Cosmetic
Act (Korea Ministry of Drug and Food Safety 2013) and the Korean Functional Cos-
metics Codex (Korea Ministry of Drug and Food Safety 2013), there are four cosmetic
group categories: whitening, antiwrinkle, ultraviolet protection, and combined whiten-
ing and antiwrinkle. Registered whitening agents include arbutin, niacinamide,
Broussonetia extract, glucoside, ascorbyl tetra isopalmitate, alpha-bisabolol, ethyl
1650
ARBUTIN, NIACINAMIDE, AND ADENOSINE IN COSMETICS 1651
ascorbyl ether, and oil soluble Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) extract. Registered antiwrinkle
agents include retinol, retinyl palmitate, adenosine, and polyethoxylated retinamide.
Examples of ultraviolet protection agents are glyceryl paba, drometrizole, drometri-
zole trisiloxane, digalloyl trioleate, diethylamino hydroxybenzoyl hexyl benzoate,
and dimethicodiethylbenzal malonate. Combined whitening and antiwrinkle cosmetics
include five combinations in various formulations: arbutin=adenosine, niacinamide=
adenosine, oil soluble Licorice (Glycyrrhiza) extract=adenosine, ascobyl glucoside=
adenosine, and arbutin=retinol (Korea Ministry of Drug and Food Safety 2013;
2013). In market surveys, combined whitening and antiwrinkle cosmetics were shown
to contain two active ingredients, and other functional ingredients were added at low
levels to enhance the effect of the cosmetics (e.g., primary ingredients of arbutin and
adenosine with an extra ingredient, niacinamide). Therefore, this study is focused on
the determination of arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine in functional cosmetics.
Arbutin was initially extracted from the leaves of bilberry (Vaccinicumvitis
idaca L). It is often used as a pharmaceutical substance to treat genitourinary infec-
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tious diseases (Pop, Vlase, and Tamas 2009) and also whitens skin because it can
control the formation of melanin by inhibiting tyrosinase. Arbutin is therefore
widely used as a skin-lightening agent in cosmetics (Wei et al. 2007; Saha 2012).
Niacinamide (Vitamin B3), also known as nicotinamide and nicotinic acid amide,
is a water-soluble vitamin (Saha 2012). Niacinamide is a powerful and well-tolerated
antioxidant and is thought to inhibit melanosome transfer from melanocytes to ker-
atinocytes, subsequently reducing melanin in the skin (Choi and Berson 2006;
Ramos-e-Silva et al. 2013). Therefore, niacinamide is used in skin lightening cosmetic
products. Moreover, Bissett et al. (2004) and Kawada et al. (2008) reported that top-
ical niacinamide treatments and cosmetics containing niacinamide have antiwrinkle
effects. Adenosine is a naturally occurring purine nucleoside formed by the break-
down of adenosine triphosphate (Xue et al. 2009) that also shows antiwrinkle
properties (Abella 2006).
Several methods have been reported for the determination of arbutin in
cosmetics by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (Huang et al.
2004; Cheng, Chen, and Zhu 2010; C. H. Lin, Wu, and Huang 2005; Wei et al.
2007; Masse et al. 2001; Thongchai, Liawruangrath, and Liawruangrath 2007;
Desmedt et al. 2013), gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (Chisvert et al.
2010), capillary zone electrophoresis (Y. H. Lin, Yang, and Wu 2007), micellar elec-
trokinetic capillary chromatography with amperometric detection (Jin et al. 2013),
and online derivatization followed by disposable electrochemical sensing (Zen et al.
2011). Methods for the determination of niacinamide in cosmetics using HPLC (C.
H. Lin, Wu, and Huang 2007; Cheng, Chen, and Zhu 2010; Yang et al. 2011) and
micellar electrokinetic capillary chromatography with field-amplified sample injec-
tion (Sun and Wu 2013) have been reported. Additionally, the determination of
alpha-arbutin, beta-arbutin, and niacinamide in cosmetics has been demonstrated
using HPLC (Cheng, Chen, and Zhu 2010) and ultra-high pressure liquid chromato-
graphy (Desmedt et al. 2013). C. Y. Chang, Lue, and Pan (2005) determined
adenosine in cultivated Antrodia camphorata (a native species in Taiwan) by HPLC,
and Xue et al. (2009) reported HPLC determination of adenosine in royal jelly.
However, there have been few studies reported concerning HPLC methods for
determining adenosine in functional cosmetic products.
1652 J. S. JEON ET AL.
EXPERIMENTAL
Materials
Thirty commercial functional cosmetics were purchased from local supermar-
kets and cosmetic shops. The formulations included twelve creams, two lotions, and
sixteen emulsions. The samples were classified based on their active ingredients:
whitening, arbutin and niacinamide; anti-wrinkle, adenosine; and whitening and
antiwrinkle: arbutin and adenosine or niacinamide and adenosine.
Arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St.
Louis, MO, USA), Wako (Osaka, Japan), and Fluka (Buchs, Switzerland), respect-
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ively. Methanol (HPLC grade) was purchased from J.T. Baker (Griesheim,
Germany). Ultra-purified water was deionized by a Nanopure Diamond (Barnstead
International, Dubuque, IA, USA) and used to prepare solutions. Prepared mobile
phases for HPLC were passed through 0.4-mm nylon membrane filters (Advantec,
Tokyo, Japan) and sonicated. The standard and sample solutions were passed
through a 0.20-mm PTFE syringe filters (Advantec, Tokyo, Japan) and centrifuged
using a Sigma 2–6 (Sigma Laborzentrifugen GmbH, Osterode am Harz, Germany).
Stock solutions were prepared by dissolving 120 mg of arbutin, 120 mg of nia-
cinamide, and 2.4 mg of adenosine in deionized water in 50-mL amber volumetric
flasks. Calibration curves were prepared by dilution of the stock solutions (arbutin
and niacinamide, 0.40–48 mg=mL; adenosine, 0.008–0.96 mg=mL). Solutions for
method validation were prepared by diluting the stock to the appropriate concen-
tration. Standard were prepared immediately before use and stored at 4 C.
Cosmetic samples, 0.1 g (equivalent to 2 mg of arbutin, 2 mg of niacinamide,
and 0.04 mg of adenosine), were transferred to 50-mL polypropylene centrifuge tubes
and mixed with 5 mL of methanol. After vortex mixing, the solutions were sonicated
for 10 min, and deionized water was added to 50 mL followed by vortex mixing. The
sample solutions were then centrifuged for 20 min at 3500 rpm and passed through
0.20-mm Teflon syringe filters prior to analysis.
Instrumentation
Chromatography was performed using an Agilent 1260 Infinity Series HPLC
system (Agilent Technologies, Waldbronn, Germany) with an in-line vacuum degas-
ser, binary pump, an autosampler, a temperature-controlled column compartment,
and a diode array detector (DAD). System control, data acquisition, and data pro-
cessing were accomplished using OpenLAB CDS Chemstation C.01.05 (Agilent
Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA). The chromatographic conditions were opti-
mized using a Cogent HPSTM C18 column (150 mm 4.6 mm i.d., 5 mm particle size,
MicroSolv Technology Corporation, Eatontown, NJ, USA) at 30 C. The standard
and sample solutions were separated using stepwise gradient mobile phase conditions
consisting of deionized water (A) and methanol (B): 0–5 min, 5% B (v=v); 5–15 min,
ARBUTIN, NIACINAMIDE, AND ADENOSINE IN COSMETICS 1653
35% B (v=v); 15–25 min, 5% B (v=v); and 25–30 min, 5% B (v=v). The flow rate was set
at 1.0 mL=min, and the injection volume was 10 mL. The detector wavelength was set
to 260 nm.
Method Validation
After an analytical method is developed, validation is conducted to prove its
analytical value (Shabir et al. 2007). The developed method was validated to ensure
the reliability of the analysis results in terms of accuracy, precision, specificity, limit
of quantization (LOQ), limit of detection (LOD), linearity, and linear dynamic range
(U.S. Pharmacopeia 2009). Accuracy was evaluated through recovery experiments
by spiking the samples with standards at three levels (30%, 60%, and 120%). The
precision of the method was evaluated for intra- and inter-day precision at three
levels (80%, 1005, and 120%) in samples. To evaluate the specificity of the method,
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blank samples were analyzed by HPLC. The LODs and LOQs were determined at
signal-to-noise ratios of 3:1 and 10:1, respectively. Ten mixed standard solutions
were prepared to evaluate linearity by regression analysis.
Figure 1. Chromatograms of cosmetic cream spiked with arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine.
Chromatograms were at the same scale to show changes in absorbance with detector wavelength: (a)
220 nm; (b) 260 nm; and (c) 280 nm. Peaks: (1) arbutin (40 mg=mL), (2) niacinamide (40 mg=mL), and
(3) adenosine (0.8 mg=mL).
Figure 2. Chromatograms of cosmetics spiked with arbutin, niacinamide and adenosine at a detection
wavelength of 260 nm: (A) cream; (B) lotion; (C) emulsion. Chromatogram: (A-1) cream spiked with
120% of standard; (B-1) lotion spiked with 60% of standard; (C-1); emulsion spiked with 30% of standard.
ARBUTIN, NIACINAMIDE, AND ADENOSINE IN COSMETICS 1655
achieved under the optimized conditions, and no interferences were found at 260 nm.
Thus, 260 nm was selected as the detection wavelength.
reported an LOQ for arbutin in cosmetic products of 15.0 mg=mL at 280 nm. In
addition, Desmedt et al. (2013) reported that the LOQs of arbutin and niacinamide
in cosmetics were 0.056 mg=mL and 0.055 mg=mL at 230 nm. The LOQ of adenosine
for the determination of adenosine in royal jelly was 0.048 g=mL by Xue et al. (2009).
As the arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine concentrations in the samples were at
least 40.0 mg=mL, 40.0 mg=mL, and 0.8 mg=mL, respectively, the LOQs obtained here
were suitable for these determinations.
Method Validation
Creams, lotions, and emulsions containing no functional cosmetic agents were
used as blanks in recovery experiments, as shown in Figure 3. Recovery was exam-
ined by adding a known amount of the arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine stan-
dards (30%, 60%, and 120% of concentrations) to the cosmetics using the
developed method. Table 2 shows the recoveries of arbutin, niacinamide, and adeno-
sine were 102.1%–107.5%, 101.2%–105.1%, and 98.1%–102.9%, respectively, and
were acceptable according to AOAC guidelines (Associations of Analytical Com-
munities 2013).
The intra-day and inter-day precisions were characterized by analyzing samples
with added arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine three times during a single day and
by measurements on three successive days, respectively. The intra- and inter-day pre-
cision values of the method are shown in Table 3. The relative standard deviations of
intra- and inter-day analyses varied from 0.15% to 0.82%, indicating that the
Table 1. Linear dynamic range and the limits of detection (LOD) and quantitation (LOQ)
Compound Linear range (mg=mL) Calibration equationa R2 (n ¼ 3) LOD (mg=mL) LOQ (mg=mL)
a
y: peak area of analyte; x: concentration of analyte (mg=mL).
1656 J. S. JEON ET AL.
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Figure 3. Chromatograms of samples containing (A) arbutin; (B) niacinamide; (C) adenosine; (D) arbutin
and adenosine; (E) niacinamide and adenosine; and (F) arbutin, niacinamide, and adenosine.
Cream
12 104.8 0.59 102.9 0.04 102.9 0.80
24 104.2 0.30 103.6 0.04 102.1 0.40
48 102.1 0.15 102.6 0.05 99.7 0.41
Lotion
12 107.5 0.58 105.1 0.22 102.9 0.80
24 105.5 0.29 104.3 0.04 102.1 0.40
48 102.1 0.15 102.0 0.23 100.0 0.41
Emulsion
0.24 107.5 0.58 105.1 0.22 102.9 0.80
0.48 104.4 1.19 103.9 0.46 101.2 0.82
0.96 102.3 0.76 101.2 0.54 98.1 0.63
Concentration of adenosine.
ARBUTIN, NIACINAMIDE, AND ADENOSINE IN COSMETICS 1657
Acceptance criteria
values for five consecutive injections 1.0%, capacity factor 2, resolution between
two adjacent peaks 2.0, tailing factor 2, and plate count 2,000 were deemed to
be acceptable (US Food and Drug Administration 1994). These results indicate that
the chromatographic system was suitable for this analysis.
Analysis of Cosmetics
The method was applied for the determination of arbutin, niacinamide, and
adenosine in functional cosmetics. Thirty commercially available cosmetic products
were analyzed: one antiwrinkle cream, eight whitening creams, three whitening and
antiwrinkle creams, two whitening emulsions, fourteen whitening lotions, and two
whitening and antiwrinkle lotions. The concentrations of the functional agents are
given in Table 5. Example chromatograms are shown in Figure 3. One whitening
and antiwrinkle lotion contained niacinamide as a functional ingredient as shown
in Figure 3(F). The established method was suitable for creams, emulsions, and
lotions. The results demonstrated that the method was simple and reliable for quality
control of functional cosmetics.
CONCLUSIONS
A method was developed and validated for the determination of arbutin, nia-
cinamide, and adenosine in functional cosmetic products by HPLC. The analytes
were extracted using methanol and deionized water. The results show the suitability
of the method for cosmetics.
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