| Summary: | Skin whitening agents occupy an important part of the dermo-cosmetic market nowadays. They are used to treat various skin pigmentation disorders, or simply to obtain a lighter skin tone. The use of traditional skin bleachers (e.g., hydroquinone, corticoids) is now strictly regulated due to their side effects. When considering this and the growing consumers’ interest for more natural ingredients, plant extracts can be seen as safe and natural alternatives. In this perspective, in vitro bioassays were undertaken to assess cosmetic potential of Reseda luteola, and particularly its promising whitening activities. A bioguided purification procedure employing centrifugal partition chromatography, Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (UPLC-HRMS) and NMR was developed to isolate and identify the whitening agents (i.e., luteolin and apigenin) from aerial parts of R. luteola. UPLC-HRMS also enabled the characterization of acetylated luteolin- and apigenin-O-glycosides, which occurrence is reported for the first time in R. luteola.
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