Abstract: A high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) and sample pretreatment method were developed for the simultaneous determination of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5) and D-panthenol (provitamin B5) in cosmetics with different matrices (including of creams, lotions, aqueous cosmetics, oily cosmetics, wax-based cosmetics, nail polish etc). A liquid-liquid extraction system composed of water and water-immiscible solvent was used to preliminarily separate the target components from other oil-soluble components and surfactants in cosmetics, then macromolecular water-soluble matrices in cosmetics were removed by coprecipitation with potassium ferrocyanide-zinc acetate precipitating agent, and then under acid condition, pantothenic acid and D-panthenol were enriched on a C18 solid-phase extraction sorbent. After the removal of other water-soluble impurities, target components were eluted by 40% methanol and then separated and quantitatively analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography with external standard method. Good linear relationship was achieved in the concentration range of 0.1~10 μg/g for pantothenic acid and D-panthenol. The linear correlation coefficients were separately 0.9989 and 0.9996. The average recoveries of the target components in cosmetics were more than 90%. Limit of detection of the method was 30 μg/g and the limit of quantification was 100 μg/g. This method can be used to simultaneously determine pantothenic acid and D-panthenol in cosmetics. The results are accurate and reliable.

Key words: cosmetic, D-panthenol, high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), pantothenic acid