I have been engaged in the foreign trade of plant extracts for ten years. Purchasing customers often confuse the two glycosides derived from Esculin and Fraxin. They are both coumarin glycoside products and are obtained from Esculin. However, their chemical skeletons, raw material selection, physical and chemical characteristics, actual efficacy and practical uses are very different. The following differentiates them layer by layer from raw materials to terminal applications.
1. Chemical structure and basic properties
The position of the glucose link in the coumarin parent ring is different between the two, and the aglycone substances are completely different, which is also the source of all differences. Aesculin is also known as aesculin. The sugar group is connected to the hydroxyl group at position 6 of coumarin, and the corresponding hydrolyzed aglycone is acinpidin. Aescin is also known as aesculin, and the sugar group is fixed at the hydroxyl group at position 7, which is hydrolyzed to form aescin. The CAS codes, molecular formulas, and molecular weights of the two ingredients are different from each other. Chemical properties alone cannot replace each other, which is also the core basis for quality inspection to distinguish between the two.
2. Raw material collection and production area selection
The raw materials of cinnamon are from a wider range of sources. The mainstream ash aurantium and common ash trunk bark on the market can be used as raw materials for extraction. The raw materials in the production areas of Shaanxi and Shanxi are highly mature. The natural content of cinnamon in the bark is generally 1% to 3%. There is sufficient supply of raw materials for domestic mass production, and the bark of European horse chestnut is also a commonly used source for extraction overseas.
Phosphorus cinnamon is rarely found in ash, and the core raw materials can only be the bark of ash leucophylla and ash acuminatum. The forest areas in Sichuan and Hubei are the main production areas of cinnamon peel raw materials. The natural content of raw materials is generally low, mostly concentrated in the range of 0.5% to 1.5%. The procurement link is the easiest place to get into trouble. If you want to produce cinnamon peel, you cannot mix conventional cinnabar peel raw materials, otherwise the content of the finished product will seriously fall short of the standard.
3. Appearance, solubility and stability
The finished product of Esculin is a pure white crystalline powder with a slightly bitter taste and excellent water solubility. It can be quickly dissolved in cold water, hot water, methanol and ethanol. It will emit bright and rich blue fluorescence under ultraviolet light. It has excellent storage stability in sealed and darkened rooms at room temperature. The conventional shelf life can be up to two years. It is not easy to decompose and deteriorate in high temperature environments.
The powder of cinnamon powder tends to be light yellow crystals and has no pungent odor, but its solubility is weak. It can only be dissolved in hot water and alcoholic solvents, and is difficult to dissolve in cold water. The blue fluorescence under ultraviolet is very light, and the contrast with the naked eye is significantly weaker than that of cinnabarin. It has poor heat resistance. High temperatures in the production and concentration process will easily cause component degradation, and the storage conditions need to be more stringent than cinnabarin.
4. Natural activity and actual efficacy performance
In terms of anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, cinnamon peel A has stronger overall activity and more prominent inhibitory effect on Shigella dysenteriae, Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus. It is also the core effective substance of traditional cinnamon peel for intestinal anti-inflammation. Ascorbyl also has anti-inflammatory and antibacterial abilities, but its overall efficacy is only about 60% to 70% of that of aspergin, and it is only suitable for assisting in the treatment of mild inflammation.
The gap is even more obvious in terms of subdivided functionality. The advantages of cinnamon are concentrated in capillary repair, antioxidant, natural darkening and whitening, and it can also effectively inhibit aldose reductase. It has a clear effect on glycation damage and fundus maintenance; cinnamon has mediocre performance in blood vessel maintenance, whitening, and anti-glycation. Its unique advantage is that it has a prominent uric acid-lowering effect but a very weak diuretic effect. This is also the key to the differentiation of the formulas of the two ingredients.
5. Difficulty and cost of production and purification
The production process of cinnamon is highly mature. Using conventional ethanol reflux and macroporous resin purification process, 98% high-purity products can be stably produced. The mass production of raw materials is sufficient, the cost of large-scale production is low, the market supply is large, and the price is stable.
Due to the limitations of the raw materials and the insoluble nature of cinpirin in cold water, it must be extracted with high-temperature hot water. Subsequently, it must be finely separated from cinpidin A and cinpidin B that coexist in the raw materials. Precision preparation chromatography is required. The production energy consumption and purification cost are more than 30% higher. High-purity grade supplies are scarce, and the market price is much higher than cinpidin.
6. Formula compatibility and terminal application direction
It is a core raw material for medical eye drops and is used for the care of conjunctivitis and ocular surface inflammation. It is also a popular raw material in the skin care industry. It is mostly used in whitening essences and anti-acne repair masks. It is often combined with vitamin C and curcumin in health care products to make dietary supplement products for liver protection, antioxidant, and microcirculation maintenance. The demand for orders at home and abroad is stable all year round.
Because of its limited solubility and activity, it is rarely used in the skin care field. Most of the materials used are concentrated in uric acid-lowering health care product formulations. Daily compatibility is often combined with chicory extract and dandelion extract, focusing on purine metabolism conditioning. The products are mostly niche customized dietary supplements, and the conventionally circulated finished products are far less than those of cinpidin.
