Cinnamaldehyde: Natural Isolate from Cinnamon Bark Oil

Indonesia is the largest producer of cinnamon in the world followed by China, Vietnam, and Sri Lanka in the interval time of 2015-2019 (Annisa et al., 2021). Approximately 60% of total production for cinnamon were from West Sumatra and Jambi provinces which are the main producers in Indonesia. Those regions contributed around 94% of the total 46 thousand tons of cinnamon in 2022 (Secretariate of Directorate General of Estates, 2021). As explained in the previous article, Cinnamon burmannii is a species of cinnamon originated from Indonesia and the cinnamon bark oil of this species has a higher percentage of cinnamaldehyde up to 90%, while coumarin, the other specific compound in cinnamon, is present around 1-5% using a subcritical CO2 extraction (PT Mitra Ayu Adipratama). The relative content of cinnamaldehyde from Cinnamon burmannii species is higher compared to Ceylon cinnamon types, namely Cinnamomum verum or Cinnamomum zeylanicum (50.5%, Paranagama et al., 2001; 35.9-67.7%, Rostiana et al., 2020), and others, Chinese Cinnamomum cassia (53.7-76.4%, Geng et al., 2011; 85.0%, Ooi et al., 2006) as well as Vietnamese Cinnamomum loureiroi (66.4%, Jiang et al., 2008; 62.6% and 69.6%, Li et al., 2010). Variation in the relative contents of cinnamaldehyde in cinnamon bark oil from the literatures is affected by the extraction method, age of the tree, position of bark, and others (Li et al., 2010; Geng et al., 2011).

Cinnamaldehyde is well known as the main natural compound derived from the cinnamon bark oil of the genus Cinnamomum. Cinnamaldehyde belongs to phenylpropanoid group with the molecular formula of C9H8O and its molecular structure can be seen in Figure 1. Cinnamaldehyde was firstly isolated by Dumas and Péligot in 1834 and then had been chemically synthesized by Italian chemist in 1854 (Zhu et al., 2017 and references cited therein). Physical form of cinnamaldehyde is a clear yellow to greenish yellow oily liquid having pungent spicy note (Cocchiara et al., 2005) with a cinnamon odor and sweet taste (Shreaz et al., 2016).

Figure 1. Molecular structure of cinnamaldehyde

Cinnamaldehyde is a widely used as flavoring agent. According to a review paper by Gowder (2014), the acute toxicity of cinnamaldehyde is relatively low with the LD50 values ranging from 0.6 to 3.4 g/kg in various species. By Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of the United States, and Flavor and Extract Manufacturer’s Association (FEMA), cinnamaldehyde is approved to be a Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) as a flavor ingredient. In addition, cinnamaldehyde is included by the Council of Europe in the list of substances granted A, may be used in foodstuffs (Bickers et al., 2005; Cocchiara et al., 2005; Doyle and Stephens, 2019). For the safety concern, acceptable daily intake (ADI) of cinnamaldehyde is reported to be 1.25 mg/kg body weight and 0.7 mg/kg body weight by the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additive (JECFA) and WHO, respectively (Gowder, 2014).

Cinnamaldehyde is also known as a fragrance ingredient used in many fragrance products, namely decorative cosmetics, fine fragrances, shampoos, toilet soaps, other toiletries and non-cosmetic products, household cleaners and detergents (Cocchiara et al., 2005). Doyle and Stephens (2019) reported some limitations of the use of cinnamaldehyde for commercial application especially fragrance exposure to human body. Cinnamaldehyde is sensitizer in humans, and can cause an allergic reaction when used as an ingredient of perfumes and cosmetics as reported by the North American Contact Dermatitis Research group (Shreaz et al., 2016). In addition, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have placed cinnamaldehyde on the list of fragrance materials that must be labeled on consumer products. Its level does not exceed 0.05% for the skin-contacted products, while for non-skin contact products the level should not exceed 0.5%. The detailed information of toxicologic and dermatologic assessment of cinnamaldehyde used for a fragrance ingredient have been reviewed by Bickers et al. (2005) and Cocchiara et al. (2005).

PT Mitra Ayu manufactures Cinnamon Bark Oil by Supercritical CO2 Extraction from Cinnamomum burmannii species.

For more information about Cinnamon Bark Oil CO2 and Natural Cinnamaldehyde, please contact us at info@ptmitraayu.com or send us a message here.

References

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