Sourcing New Ingredients for Organic Cosmetics: Phytochemicals of <i>Filipendula vulgaris</i> Flower Extracts

Abstract

Plant extracts are well known for their beneficial cosmetic properties based on bioactive phytochemicals with highly demonstrated antimicrobial and antioxidant capacities as phenolic compounds. This work presents the polyphenolic characterization of different extracts from organically grown Filipendula vulgaris. An ultrasound-assisted extraction procedure is proposed for obtaining ethanolic extracts at the laboratory level, both from dried and fresh plants, to be compared with those obtained by classical flower processing techniques for cosmetic purposes. The individual quantification of target phenolic compounds was carried out using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The results revealed the presence of 24 phenolic compounds in the analyzed samples, ranging in concentrations from 0.1 to 71.64 µg g−1. The total phenolic content (TPC) ranging from 1163 to 6114 mg GAE L−1, and the antioxidant activity (AA), from 6 to 52 mmol TRE L−1, were also evaluated. The differences were established between the plant material and extraction technique.

Keywords

• polyphenols
• plant extracts
• ultrasound-assisted extraction
• total phenolic content
• antioxidant activity
• liquid chromatography