A rapid and sensitive method is described to detect phenol and catechol contamination in resorcinol by a single test which simplifies the USP(l) technique involving two separate procedure. The proposed TLC method is not only faster, but also more sensitive than the of­ficial one. Resorcinol, one of the most popular constituents in lotions for ex­ternal uses may contain impurities which increases its toxicity. Ac­cording to USP XVII, phenol and catechol should be nearly absent.There is no useful published method for the detection of the pos­sible impurities in resorcinol. The author's objective is to develop a simple, rapid and sensitive technique for the detection of the two impurities. In attempting to develop an improved procedure for detecting the impurities in resorcinol, there are basically two problem to be solved: selection the most suitable technique and finding the optimal condition for both the separation and identification of theirs. For this purpose, TLC method is proposed.

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