Objective: The present study was aimed to investigate the physicochemical properties, chemical characterization and skin moisturizing effect of the
mucilages extracted from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (HR), and H. mutabilis (HM).
Methods: The HR and HM leaves were extracted with distilled water to obtain their mucilages. Then dried and powdered. The physicochemical
properties of the mucilage powders, including pH value, swelling index, loss on drying, solubility, total ash, acid-insoluble ash and carbohydrate
content were evaluated. The polysaccharides were isolated from the mucilages and purified by DEAE-650M column and identified the sugar unit
constituents by acid hydrolysis, followed by TLC and HPAEC analyses. The short-term moisturizing effect of the mucilages was determined on pig
skin using Corneometer®
Results: The yield of HR and HM mucilages was 21% and 15% w/w. Each of mucilage showed the specific physicochemical properties. The main
component of HR and HM mucilages was acidic polysaccharides named as AHR and AHM. The major components with the Mol% of AHR were 27%
galactose, 24% rhamnose, 19% galacturonic acid, and 18% arabinose, while AHM were rich in 27% rhamnose, 25% galactose, 18% xylose, 16%
arabinose and 9% galacturonic acid. The skin moisturizing effect of 0.2 % HR mucilage was significantly more effective than 0.2% HM mucilage,
0.2% hyaluronic acid, 5% propylene glycol and 5% butylene glycol at 30 min after application.
.
Conclusion: The results suggest that mucilage extracted from Hibiscus rosa-sinensis was more superior in quality than Hibiscus mutabilis mucilage
for using as a good moisturizer in the skin care product