PHOTOPROTECTIVE AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES ALONG WITH PHYTOCHEMICAL INVESTIGATION OF ROSE WATER

Ultraviolet radiation (UV) from sun has significant detoriating and degenerative effects on human skin and thus responsible for much skin disease. The most authentic and realistic approach to overcome this issue is to use or apply a barrier between sun rays and exposed skin surface using suitable products called sunscreens or UV protectors. Sunscreens usually include both natural and synthetic molecule and have great application in cosmaceuticals. In the present study one such natural product-rose water was evaluated for sun protecting ability of the rose water samples (SPF) using in-vitro spectroscopic method. A correlation was also established by evaluating the  antioxidant activity in total 12 samples of rose water were evaluated for SPF and antioxidant activity Among all the samples the SPF value of sample #09 showed high sunscreen activity 3.956 followed by sample #08 with SPF value of 3.612. The rose water sample distilled in the lab indicated SPF value as 0.800. All the samples showed antioxidant activity (free radical scavenging ability). The phytochemical investigation indicates the presence of polyphenolic compounds such as triterpenoids, saponin, flavanoids, tannins and fixed oil. The overall SPF and antioxidant activity of rose water may be responsible for the utilization in cosmaceuticals to achieve reasonable skin protecting effect and to prolong the skin aging.