A method was developed for the simultaneous determination of chromium(Ⅵ) and chromium(Ⅲ) by high performance liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry(HPLC-ICP-MS).The sample was extracted with 10 mmol/L EDTA solution(pH 7.0).The chromatographic separation was performed on an Agilent Bio-WAX column(4.6 mm×50 mm

5 μm) utilizing 0.075 mol/L nitric acid(pH 7.0) as mobile phase.Identification and quantitation were achieved by ICP-MS.Under the optimal conditions

the linear ranges for Cr(Ⅵ) and Cr(Ⅲ) were observed from 0 μg/L to 100 μg/L with correlation coefficients(r2) of 0.999 9.The limits of detection for Cr(Ⅵ) and Cr(Ⅲ) were 6 μg/kg and 2 μg/kg

and the limits of quantitation were 18 μg/kg and 6 μg/kg

respectively.Average recoveries for Cr(Ⅵ) and Cr(Ⅲ) at three spiked levels ranged from 85.1% to 113% with relative standard deviations of 0.4%-4.6%.Through the analysis of actual samples

Cr(Ⅵ) and Cr(Ⅲ) were detected out in cream lotion and powder cosmetics.With good reproducibility and high sensitivity

this method is suitable for the simultaneous determination of Cr(Ⅵ) and Cr(Ⅲ) in different types of cosmetics as Cr(Ⅵ) is stable under neutral conditions.