Ion chromatography (IC) with conductivity detection complements traditional HPLC-UV pharmaceutical separations. IC is especially useful when the analytes do not contain chromophores, or when it is desirable to determine chromophoric and nonchromophoric molecules in a single run. This application note addresses the use of IC for the analysis of personal care products, including compounds found in some toothpastes, hair permanent solutions, and acne medications. Several examples illustrate the variety of separations that can be achieved using IC.

The Thermo Scientific Acclaim 120 C18 column is applied for the USP assay of aspirin, with UV detection at 280 nm.

The Thermo Scientific HPLC system is applied for the determination of analgesic compounds aspirin, acetaminophen and salicylic acid. The separation is performed on a Thermo Scientific Accucore Urea-HILIC HPLC column, with UV detection at 230 nm.

The Thermo Scientific HPLC system is applied for the analysis of organic acids. The separation is performed on a Thermo Scientific Hypersil GOLD HPLC column, with UV detection at 280 nm.

The Thermo Scientific UltiMate 3000 RSLC system is applied for the rapid determination of aspirin. The separation is performed on a Thermo Scientific Acclaim 120 C18 2.2 µm column in under 1.5 mins, with UV detection at 280 nm. This application is a speed-up of the USP method for the assay of Aspirin. Simply recomputing the operating parameters for a 2.1x50 mm column leads to a 10-fold increase in throughput and 96% savings in mobile phase per assay, whilst maintaining baseline separation.