Screening nicotinamide in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products and nicotinic acid skin penetration from essential-oil formulations using attenuated total reflectance-infrared spectroscopy

The nicotinic acid derivatives such as nicotinamide in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products were screened by fast and nondestructively method, attenuated total reflectance-infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy. The effects of sixteen essential oils creams (clove, cassia bark, geraniom, eucalyptus, thyme, nutmeg, coriander seed, damask, petitgrain, melissa, melaleuca alternifolia (tea tree), grape fruit, verbena wild, cinnamon, sandal wood, ginger) on the skin permeation of nicotinic acid were studied using human skin by ATR-IR infrared spectroscopy. We selected essential oils creams based on the characteristic region (1493, 1260, 1050 and 824 cm−1) for nicotinic acid which were not interfered by essential oils. Although all essential oils creams enhanced the permeation of nicotinic acid, their effects were less than that of ethanol. Eucalyptus was found to be the most active, causing peak area decrease of C–H absorbances higher than the others. The effect of eucalyptus essential oil carriers on the release and percutaneous absorption of the nicotinic acid was studied in vitro using a permeation membrane model.