Sustained delivery system of curcuminoids rich plant Curcuma longa, L for topical application

Abstract : The research conducted in this study was aimed at extracting and studying the most bioactive elements found in the Southern Asian plant known as Curcuma longa, commercially is known as Turmeric. Curcumin is the most bioactive component of turmeric, it and other phytochemicals including essential oils, particularly the ones relevant for its topical application for skin care were studied. This plant was chosen because of its documented history as an effective active in skin care. This is because some of the plant’s phytochemicals have high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, providing skin with nutrients that can shield or protect it from environmental harm. The plant’s antioxidant activity makes it useful as a free-radical scavenger. Free radical have oxidation properties that cause skin cancer and aging. During injury (inflammation) of skin, the anti-inflammation of the phytochemicals helps in repairing and healing the wounds. This has led to the wide use of Curcuma longa in cosmetics for wound healing, sun protection, and skin lightening. The essential oils components of turmeric were extracted by the solvent extraction technique and they were studied by 2D GCxGC-TOF/MS. This was done in order to qualitatively study the various components of the essential oils and to quantify them. Various classes of compounds were identified, where it was observed that the essential oils component of turmeric consisted of mainly terpenoids, terpenes, and alkaloids. It was also found that most of these compounds had a chain length varied between 11 and 15 carbon atoms. Most of these 11-15 carbon atoms were identified as sesquiterpenoids. These results were consistent with that turmeric is used as a beauty product because these classes of compounds have been used in cosmetics because of their anti-microbial, antioxidant and therapeutic UV-induced skin care. In another study, Curcuma longa, L was subjected to extraction with the aim of isolating curcuminoids. Curcuminoids is a term that encompasses 3 compounds, curcumin, demethoxycurcumin and bis-methoxycurcumin. The extraction was achieved by solvent extraction using various organic solvents and isolated by column chromatography. The characterization of the extracts was carried out using FTIR, UV-VIS, NMR. The fraction of interest was characterized by 3 spots observed on the TLC of the fraction. These spots were assigned to curcuminoids.M.Sc. (Applied Chemistry