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Synthesis and Characterization of Cosmetic Grade Ionic Liquids and Their Application as Skin Whitening Agents

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Abstract

Purpose

Recent developments emphasize the ready conversion of known active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) into novel phases like ionic liquids (known green solvents) to obtain striking features such as improved solubilities and dissolution rates. This dissolution enhancement is important for the pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of the drug. For this purpose, an active cation can be combined with an active anion to synthesize dual functionality liquid.

Methods

In this work, we synthesized two novel ionic liquids, cholinium arbutinate (IL-1) and cholinium glutathionate (IL-2), from cosmetic grade components and evaluated their prospective applications as skin whitening. For this purpose, two known whitening acids, arbutin and glutathione, were neutralized with choline hydroxide. Synthesized ionic liquids were characterized via NMR and FTIR as well as evaluated for their potent biological properties involving antibacterial, antifungal, cytotoxicity, and de-pigmenting activity.

Results

The results suggested that synthesized ionic liquids can be used as skin whitening agents as they can prevent bacterial attack, protect from cell oxidation, and also exhibit cell compatibility. Furthermore, these novel synthesized compounds were observed to have de-pigmenting activity.

Conclusion

The prepared whitening agents would not cause any harm to the skin and would inhibit the growth of bacteria and oxidation of cells, thus preventing cell damage.

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Data Availability

Available on request.

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Funding

The authors extend their appreciation to the Deputyship for Research & Innovation, Ministry of Education in Saudi Arabia for funding this research work through the project number ISP22-22.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, The University of Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan

    Farah Bashir

  2. Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Khyber Medical University, Peshawar, KPK, Pakistan

    Nawshad Muhammad

  3. Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Jazan University, 45142, Jazan, Saudi Arabia

    Meshal Alshamrani, Ahmad Salawi, Awaji Y. Safhi, Abdullah Alsalhi, Fahad Y. Sabei & Osama A. Madkhali

  4. Centre for Research in Ionic Liquids, School of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Quaid-E-Azam Campus, Lahore, Pakistan

    Maliha Uroos

  5. Department of Chemical and Material Engineering, College of Engineering, Northern Border University, Arar, Saudi Arabia

    Naveed Ahmed

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  1. Farah Bashir
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Contributions

F. B.: article write-up; N. M.: supervision; M. A. and M. U. N. A.: data analysis and critical review; A. S., A. Y. S., A. A., F. Y. S., and O. A. M.: resource and data analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Nawshad Muhammad.

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Rats and ethical approval were obtained from the Postgraduate Medical Institute (PGMI), Lahore, on August 2021.

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Bashir, F., Muhammad, N., Alshamrani, M. et al. Synthesis and Characterization of Cosmetic Grade Ionic Liquids and Their Application as Skin Whitening Agents. J Pharm Innov 18, 2277–2286 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12247-023-09790-x

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