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.