The Chemical Constituents of Henna
Henna Powder is quite simply, the finely ground dried leaves of the Henna Plant (Lawsonia Inermis L). The naturally occuring chemical constituents of henna powder are often referred to as ‘Biochemicals’ or ‘Phytochemicals’, because they occur naturally within plant matter. There are many phytochemicals in the henna plant, but for the purposes of henna body art we are primarily looking at ‘henna powder’ and so we are concerned only with the phytochemicals that exist in the henna leaves.
The Key Phytochemicals in Henna leaves are:
- Sugars
- Fraxetin
- Tannin
- Gallic Acid
- Lawsone
- Resin
- Coumarins
- 1,2-Dihydroxy-4-Glucosylnapthalene
- 1,3-Dihydroxynaphthalene
- 1,4-Diglucosyloxy-2-Hydroxynapthalene
- 1,4-Naphthaquinone
- 1,4-Naphthoquinone
- 4-Glucosyloxy-1,2-Dihydroxynapthalene
- Aesculetin
- Beta-Sitosterol
- Cosmosiin
- Cynaroside
- Daucosterol
- Esculetin
- Galactose
- Glucose
- Lacoumarin
- Laloiside
- Lawsoniaside
- Luteolin
- Luteolin-3′-Glucoside
- Luteolin-3′-o-Beta-d-Glucoside
- Luteolin-7-o-Glucoside
- Mannitol
- n-Triacontyl-n-Tridecanoate
- Pentosans
- Quinone
- Scopoletin
- Stigmasterol
- Sucrose
- Tiliani
- Water
- Xanthones
- Xylose
is principaly responsible for the colourant property of the henna leaves. Though the tannin and the gallic acid seems to have a complimentary beneficial effect. Enriching your henna paste by adding extra tannin (from tea for example) or adding extra gallic acid (from cloves for example) will usually help to deepen the colour of your henna stain.
Other Phytochemicals in Henna Leaves are:
This list may be updated in the future as and when new glucosides and xanthones are identified.
Sunday, May 27th, 2007 at 12:37 pmand is filed under Biochemistry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
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