A new RP-HPLC method as an auxiliary tool for optimization of sample preparation procedures for tracing of PPCPs of different hydrophilicities

Recently, pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) have received considerable attention because of their increasing use. Analysis of PPCPs presents a significant analytical challenge, with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) in reversed-phase mode, as the most widely used analytical technique. To facilitate the optimization of the procedures that are applied in the early stages of sample preparation, a simple and fast HPLC method is proposed in this work for the separation of some PPCPs with a wide range of hydrophilicity. Two columns were evaluated (Atlantis dC18 and Discovery HS F5); as for mobile phases: a formate buffer (40 mmol L⁻¹, pH 4) and methanol were tested in a gradient mode. The fluorinated column allowed better separation in a shorter time and better resolution for all analytes (R_s > 1). The proposed method delivered good performance for the tracing of PPCPs and is a suitable alternative to traditional C18-based HPLC methods.