Jenaya Hoffman, Nicole Jones , and Shane Monares

Determination of formaldehyde concentration of Sunsilk-Straight to Perfection shampoo was achieved using a standard addition process via HPLC. Formaldehyde concentration was found to be 9.1E04 ug/mL +/- 2.1E05 ug/mL. A previous method using standard formaldehyde concentration of 2.5-10 ug/mL was unsuccessful because the derivatization agent 2,4 dinitrophenylhydrazine covered the formaldehyde peak. The covering of the formaldehyde derivative peak can be attributed to the delicate equilibrium that exists between formaldehyde and 2,4-DNPH. Further studies and revisions to techniques are needed to accurately measure formaldehyde concentrations.