Determination of mercury in cosmetics by flow injection-cold generation-atomic fluorescence spectrometry with on-line preconcentration

Abstract

A method for the determination of trace amounts of mercury in cosmetics is reported. The method involves the acid treatment of the sample in a focused-microwave digester, on-line preconcentration in a C ₁₈ column and cold vapour generation-atomic fluorescence detection. The method can be applied to the determination of the target analyte at the picogram level in different eye cosmetics (eye liner, eye shadow and eye pencil), with recoveries ranging between 89 and 104% and with a precision, expressed as relative standard deviation, of 5.9%.