Antioxidant activity of Eichhornia crassipes (mart) solms as sunscreen

Water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) is one of the most productive plants on earth and is considered one of the ten worst weeds globally. Although known as waterweed, water hyacinth has various secondary metabolites useful as antioxidants. Natural antioxidants are considered a potential source of sunscreen. They are preferred because of their ability to absorb solar radiation, increase photoprotective activity, and prevent various damages caused by ultraviolet radiation. Water hyacinth leaf extract was found to have the best DPPH antioxidant activity with an IC50 value of 94.76±3.69 μg/mL compared to stem and root extracts. Phenolic and flavonoid compounds in the leaf extract with the levels of 1.029±0.26 mg GAE/g and 0.672±0.016 mg QE/g, respectively, were directly proportional to their antioxidant activity. The effectiveness of sunscreen can be seen from the value of the Sun Protection Factor (SPF) indicated by the leaf extract with a value of 17.66±1.71. This value is included as an extra protection category that can be further developed into pharmaceutical products in cosmetics. Based on the FTIR analysis of the leaf extracts, it contains functional groups of OH, C-H aliphatic, C=O, C=C aromatic, C-O, and C-H aromatic groups. © 2023 Author(s).