DETERMINATION OF METALS PRESENT IN MAKE-UP SHADOWS BY UV-VIS SPECTROPHOTOMETRY: A CONTEXTUAL EXPERIMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Metallic oxides are used in cosmetic shadows formulations in order to highlight the area around the eyes, with different colors. Due to the close proximity to the eye mucosa, these products are a potential source of metal intoxication in human body. Based in this fact, several analytical methods to quantify metals in cosmetic shadows have been proposed in the literature. This paper, propose a contextual experiment to investigated the presence of Al3+, Fe3+ and Cu2+ using UV-VIS spectrophotometric and complexation reactions in solvent mixtures to generate cromophore species. These experiments have the potential to insert a contextual discussion in chemistry and pharmaceutical graduation courses, making a meaningful experimentation in the formative attribute of these courses.