Simultaneous determination of arbutin and hydroquinone in different herbal slimming products by Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Objectives The aim of our study was to develop a simple, precise, sensitive and specific method for the simultaneous determination of arbutin and hydroquinone in different herbal slimming products using GC-MS. Materials and Methods The methanol and aqueous extracts of nine herbal slimming products in Turkey were evaluated for analysis of arbutin and hydroquinone using GC-MS method. Results The retention times of arbutin and hydroquinone were found as 11.32 and 5.44 min, respectively. The linear ranges in this method were 5-500 ng/mL for arbutin and hydroquinone, respectively. The intra- and inter-day precisions, expressed as the relative standard deviation, were less than 1.94 and 2.73%, determined from quality control samples for arbutin and hydroquinone, and accuracy was within 1.13 and 2.56% in terms of relative error, respectively. The limit of detection and quantification were 0.555 and 1.665 ng/mL for arbutin, and 0.031 and 0.093 ng/mL for hydroquinone, respectively. Conclusion The developed method can be used for routine quality control analysis of arbutin and hydroquinone in different herbal slimming products.