Determination of Selected Organic Cosmetic Ingredients in Brackish Water Samples

The identification of a bride range of organic pollutants in real water samples, especially in brackish water or wastewater is still a major issue in chemical analysis. The paper presents a comparison of different solid phase extraction SPE methods for the preparation of brackish water samples before the chromatographic analysis. The SPE methods were dedicated to the extraction of selected organic cosmetic ingredients - butylated hydroxytoluene BHT, oxybenzone BP3, and octyl methoxycinnamate OMC. Six types of SPE cartridges with different bed types and weights were tested. The SPE methods included the conditioning of the column bed with organic solvents, loading of the pre-treated brackish water samples, washing out the impurities, and the elution of the analytes. The highest recovery of the tested cosmetic ingredients, which has reached the value of 100% for BP3 and OMC, and exceeded 99% for BHT, was noted for the cartridge with the C₁₈ (octadecyl) bed.