Antioxidant-Activity-Guided Purification and Separation of Octocrylene from Saussurea heteromalla

Plants have been a source of medicine since ancient times, and such traditional medications are widely practiced nowadays. Saussurea heteromalla is widely used in traditional medicine in the Himalayan region for the treatment of different ailments. However, despite its traditional uses, it is not widely explored for its free radical scavenging abilities and other biological activities. Thus, the current study is aimed at exploring the free radical scavenging ability of S. heteromalla extracts, along with the isolation and evaluation of its compound through bioassay-guided purification. From different solvent fractions, an n-hexane extract of a whole plant is found to be most active; thus, it is processed for large-scale extraction and column chromatography. Further, the purification of an active fraction is performed using HPLC-DAD, which led to the isolation of an active peak, identified by GC/MS, as 2-ethylhexyl 2-cyano-3, 3-diphenylprop-2-enoate. This compound, commonly known as octocrylene, is widely recommended for UV-B filter, to be used in the cosmetic industry as photoprotection products. The presence of free radical scavenging activity enhances the sun protection factor of octocrylene. The present study presents the first report on the isolation of this compound from the family Asteraceae. The compound has good free radical scavenging activity and is widely used in the cosmetic industry as a sun protectant and is much less reported from botanical sources.

Automated summary

The current study aims to explore the free radical scavenging ability of Saussurea heteromalla extracts and evaluate its compound through bioassay-guided purification. The n-hexane extract of the whole plant is found to be most active, and the active fraction is purified using HPLC-DAD, leading to the isolation of octocrylene. This compound has good free radical scavenging activity and is widely used in the cosmetic industry as a sun protectant but is not commonly reported from botanical sources.