Formulating Ferulic Acid for Antioxidation

By: Katie Schaefer, C&T magazine

Posted: May 27, 2010, from the June 2010 issue of Cosmetics & Toiletries.

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The team sought to incorporate antioxidant capability into the phospholipid membranes. “A lot of the damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) is in the membranes of cells where polyunsaturated lipids exist in the phospholipids, and those get oxidized rather easily by ROS. We found that [this] molecule worked very well at preventing that from happening,” said Laszlo. Beyond their photoprotective and antioxidant capabilities, feruloyl soy glycerides were found to have a number of formulation benefits.

Formulating with FSG
“When you create certain types of esters of ferulic acid, the antioxidant capability goes down,” said Laszlo, who furthered that in the assays, ferulic acid in glyceride form worked better than ferulic acid alone.

In addition, as previously noted, Laszlo explained that ferulic acid can be challenging to incorporate into formulations. “Ferulic acid does not formulate easily and it is rather unstable. ... [However], soy glycerides allow ferulic acid to be easily incorporated into formulations, as the acid is converted to a liquid material at room temperature.” The feruloyl soy glycerides can also benefit formulations as a solvent, according to Laszlo. “People might find uses for it just because it improves their formulations,” he said.

The team is currently investigating whether feruloyl soy glycerides penetrate the skin. “There are a lot of ingredients that go into a formulation, and this material could help those ingredients penetrate the epidermis, thereby increasing their efficacy. We are looking [into] how much they penetrate and what do they do in the epidermis,” Laszlo explained. The ability of feruloyl soy glycerides to penetrate the epidermis has great potential for sun care, according to Laszlo, where they could improve sunscreen absorption.

The conversion process utilized by the company to add ferulic acid to vegetable oil can be applied to a broad range of materials, including “a number of phytochemicals that might offer skin care attributes,” said Laszlo, who added that current research in this area will be published within a year. In the meantime, Laszlo’s colleagues are using the material for other applications—protecting crops from the sun, or offering a vegetable oil with health benefits for cooking—all of which are environmentally conscious.