Flower Extracts as Multifunctional Dyes in the Cosmetics Industry.

Tomasz Bujak,Martyna Zagórska-Dziok,Tomasz Wasilewski,Kamila Lal,Zofia Nizioł-Łukaszewska,Zofia Hordyjewicz-Baran,Aleksandra Ziemlewska

doi:10.3390/molecules27030922

Abstract

Flowers are a natural source of bioactive compounds that not only have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-aging properties, but can also be used as natural dyes. For this reason, nowadays plants are widely used to produce natural cosmetics and foods. In these studies, the properties of the water extracts of Papaver rhoeas L., Punica granatum L., Clitoria ternatea L., Carthamus tinctorius L., and Gomphrena globosa L., as bioactive, natural dyes, were investigated. Plant flower extracts were tested for their antioxidant (ABTS and DPPH radical methods) and anti-inflammatory effects by determining the ability to inhibit the activity of lipoxygenase and proteinase. The extracts were tested for their cytotoxic effect on skin cells, using Alamar Blue and Neutral Red tests. The ability to inhibit the activity of enzymes responsible for the destruction of elastin and collagen was also studied. Research has shown that extracts have no toxic effect on skin cells, are a rich source of antioxidants and show the ability to inhibit the activity of elastase and collagenase enzymes. P. rhoeas extract showed the strongest antioxidant properties with IC50 value of 24.8 ± 0.42 µg/mL and 47.5 ± 1.01 µg/mL in ABTS and DPPH tests, respectively. The tested plants are also characterized by an anti-inflammatory property, for which the ability to inhibit lipoxygenase at a level above 80% and proteinase at the level of about 55% was noted. Extracts from P. rhoeas, C. ternatea, and C. tinctorius show the strongest coloring ability and can permanently dye cosmetic products, without significant color changes during the storage of the product.

Highlights

The main phenolic compounds were determined in the negative-ion mode on the basis of mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of the detected precursor ions and confirmed by resulting product ions from MS2 fragmentation using HPLC-electrospray ionization source (ESI)-MS/MS
Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that the tested plant extracts show several positive features, thanks to which they can be used in the production of cosmetics as their safe and bioactive ingredient
It has been shown that these plants are a rich source of polyphenols, which gives them antioxidant properties

Summary

Introduction

There has been a growing interest in natural and ecological products. It is especially noticeable in the cosmetics, food, and other fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industries. Based on the observation of the current market trends, more and more consumers are looking for natural products, which, in their opinion, are safer in use and more effective. Producers are forced to look for natural replacements of synthetically derived substances in order to prepare products that meet the requirements of the consumers [1]. Most of the dyes used by the food or cosmetics industry are continuously produced by chemical synthesis due to their lower cost and higher stability compared to the natural coloring agents

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Conclusion