Abstract:
This research was aimed to extract polysaccharide from tamarind seed for application as natural gelling agent in cosmetic formulation. The polysaccharide was prepared by two different extraction methods including microwave-assisted method at 4, 8 and 12 min and hot water extraction (90 °C) at 30, 60 and 90 min. The results revealed that hot water-assisted method at 60 min significantly provided the highest yield and polysaccharide content assayed by phenol sulfuric method of 56.43±0.50% and 626.839 ±6.703 mg glucose/g extract, respectively. Physico-chemical properties of the polysaccharide was evaluated and found that it can be soluble and thicken in water. In addition, it can also form as gel and the pH was ranged from 4.9 to 5.7. In this study, 2% tamarind polysaccharide was employed in gel and emulsion cream formulation. The results showed that the polysaccharide can be used as gelling agent. Stability of product was performed at different conditions of 4th heating-cooling cycle, 45°C for 1 month, 4°C for 1 month and ambient temperature for
1 month. It can be observed that the viscosity of gel product increased, while pH was decreased. The color intensity of gel product seemed to be slightly increased. Formulation of emulsion cream containing 2% tamarind polysaccharide as compared to emulsion base demonstrated that phase separation of emulsion base was observed, while cream containing the tamarind polysaccharide had higher viscosity with no phase separation. This indicated that the polysaccharide can be used as thickener and emulsion stabilizer. Stability test of emulsion product showed that the product was stable in all conditions tested. In conclusion, it can be implied that polysaccharide from tamarind could be used as natural gelling agent, as well as thickening agent and emulsion stabilizer of cosmetic products.