Publication:

Photostability of avobenzone in a commercial sunscreen SPF 50 with the addition of quencher upon sun exposure

Background Sunscreen can prevent acute and chronic skin damage, acute skin damage includes the burning effect that is felt on the skin, chronic skin damage due to exposure to UV A and UV B rays, namely skin cancer. Avobenzone is a UV filter that is often used but is unstable when exposed to sunlight, for this reason a quencher is added as an avobenzone photostabilizer in commercial sunscreen SPF 50.

Methods Photostability of avobenzone sunscreen formula SPF 50 before and after adding the quencher was tested in the sun using a quartz plate, then analyzed using UV vis spectrophotometer and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Results Testing using a UV vis spectrophotometer, SPF 50 sunscreen with the addition of solastay S1® is the best quencher because it can reduce the photodegradation of avobenzone compared to octocrylene, polycrylene (Polyester-8) and Sinoxyl HSS® (trimethoxybenzylidene pentanedione). FSOL2 is the best formula than FSOL1 and FSOL3 because it is more photostable in reducing avobenzone photodegradation. Follow-up testing with HPLC, FSOL2 can retain 50.56% avobenzone after 120 min of sun exposure.

Conclusions The addition of solastay as a quencher is proven to reduce the photodegradation of avobenzone under sunlight.