CINNAMALDEHYDE EXTRACTED FROM CINNAMON MULCH TO FORMULATE SOAP AND SKIN SCRUBBER FORMULAS

Abstract

Cinnamon is a common spice widespread in Sri Lanka, where cinnamaldehyde is found to be the main constituent of the cinnamon bark oil. Due to the presence of Cinnamaldehyde, these species exhibit antibacterial, antioxidant, and anti inflammatory properties. Cinnamon species indigenous to Sri Lanka belong to the genus Cinnamomum Zeylanicum. The parts of the cinnamon tree are used for different purposes. Cinnamon mulch is the outermost bark layer of the cinnamon tree species, which is discarded as a fertilizer rather than being used for any other purposes. Therefore, this research work aims to use the cinnamaldehyde extracted from cinnamon mulch to be used as an ingredient in the process of soap and scrubber formulation. The cinnamon mulch for this study was obtained from the Southern province of Sri Lanka. The percentage yield of oil extracted using the hydro distillation method followed by solvent extraction using hexane and ethyl acetate and resulted in a yield percentage of 0.75% from the essential oil of cinnamon mulch. The extracted essential oil was analysed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with the DAD detector. A soap was formulated using the cinnamon mulch, sandal wood, turmeric powder, rose water, glycerin, vitamin E and essential oil extracted from mulch as one of the ingredients and the antioxidant activity of the formulated soap using cinnamon mulch was evaluated using the DPPH (2,2-Diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) scavenging assay along with Trolox as the standard. The IC50 value corresponding to the soap formulation was 0.146 mg/mL and the standard (Trolox) was 0.002 mg/mL, revealing that the formulated soap possesses good antioxidant properties. This study reveals that a significant yield of oil can be extracted from cinnamon mulch using hydro distillation, which possesses a considerable amount of cinnamaldehyde with good antioxidant properties that can be used to formulate a product rather than discarding it as a fertilizer.