Chemical and Physical Investigations of Arabian Eye Kohl Brands as Cosmetic in Libya

Abstract

Three Arabian eye kohl brands were analyzed for the presence of lead and cadmium using atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) and X-ray diffraction techniques. In this work, the chemical analysis of the samples were studied according to concentration of heavy metals, solubility in different medium, reaction with KI, moisture and organic contents. XRD pattern proposed the presence of some crystalline material in an amorphous background for all investigated brands. Atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS) showed that the average percentage of Pb was in the range 0.2411 to 6.173 %; and from zero to 0.0019 % for Cd. The maximum concentration of Pb and Cd was found in Natural Arab Kohl (NAK) sample and is equal to 30.865 mg/g and 9.50 µg/g respectively. The minimum concentration of heavy metal was found in Natural Black Al-Athmod Kohl (NBAK) sample. Moisture was present in a very low percent (~ 1%) while organics was being in a reasonable amount (maximum ≤  69 %). All eye kohl brands are soluble in acidic medium with different proportions and forms yellow precipitate of PbI2 when react with KI which is considered as a chemical evidence for the presence of lead.

Keywords

• Eye Kohl
• lead
• cadmium
• Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry (AAS)

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