Preparation and Characterization of a Cream containing Citrullus colocynthis extract

Abstract

Citrullus colocynthis plant was gathered from soba area; south-east of Khartoum; the seeds were collected and dried. Using soxhlet apparatus citrullus colocynthis seeds oil was extracted and the yield was found to be (20.8%). Physicochemical characterization results showed that the density of the oil was 0.9297(g/cm³), sponification value was 215.9, acid value was 1.35 and peroxide value was 5.3. GC-MS analysis of the oil indicates that it contains linoleic acid (66.86%), palmitic acid (7.01%) and stearic acid (6.0%) as major fatty acids, in addition to 4-(2,2-dimethyl-6- methylenecyclohexyl)butanal(3.80%) and sitostenone(16.33%). Azadirchta indica gum was used to prepare an emulsion cream base, 90% of the cream base and 10% of Citrullus colocynthis oil were homogenized to formulate the muscle relaxant product. The physical properties of the homogeneous product were determined: pH (6.06), viscosity (7888 cp), specific gravity (0.89140 g/cm) and conductivity (126 µs/cm).