Square wave voltammetry at carbon paste electrode modified with surfactant for alpha tocopheryl acetate determination in cosmetics

The aim of this study was describe electrochemical properties of a carbon paste electrode (CPE) bulk modified with 30% (w/w) surfactant sodium dodecyl sulphate (CPE/SDS) and demonstrates its application in the determination of α‑tocopheryl acetate (α‑TAc), known as vitamin E acetate, in selected cosmetic products, especially body creams. In addition to anionic SDS, cationic hexadecylpyridinium chloride monohydrate (CPC) was also tested as possible modifier. It was found that selection of surfactant type and its content significantly affect an electrical conductivity and mechanical stability of these heterogeneous electroanalytical sensors in pure organic solvents. Under this study, it was found that CPC is a totally inappropriate mediator due to very high backgroundcurrent. Together with other lipophilic vitamins characterized by antioxidant activity (dominantly retionoids), this completely synthetic substance is widely used as significant cosmetic additive due its preservative properties. Monitoring of its content in cosmetic products is usually performed by high‑performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with UV detection. This standard analytical protocol is always burdened with the complex and time‑consuming preparation of the sample before analysis. For that reason, robust and simple electroanalytical method based on anodic oxidation of the α‑TAc at CPE/SDS by square wave voltammetry (SWV) performed in pure organic electrolyte (99.8% acetonitrile containing 0.1 mol·L^‑1 LiClO₄) was developed. Moreover, simple dissolution of sample in supporting electrolyte using ultrasonic bath and subsequent filtering through a stacked filter included all the necessary procedures for sample preparation. The linear range from 0.1 to 1.2 mmol·L^‑1and limit of detection 37 µmol·L^‑1 were found at pulse amplitude 10 mV and frequency 10 Hz as optimum. In analysis of selected cosmetics, the developed electroanalytical method was not validated using comparison with standard HPLC. At least, the recovery was verified by analysis of model sample and value 95.8% was calculated.