Chemical profiling and cosmeceutical potential of Hymenaea stigonocarpa fruit peel and seeds

Abstract

Hymenaea stigonocarpa Mart. ex Hayne (Fabaceae), known as jatobá-do-cerrado, has significant economic and nutritional importance. While its wood and pulp are well studied, the peel and seeds remain underexplored. This study investigates their chemical composition and cosmeceutical potential. The ethanolic peel extract was non-toxic to HaCaT cells, indicating safety for topical use, whereas seed extracts showed varying toxicity. Crude extracts and fractions were tested for elastase and tyrosinase inhibition. High elastase inhibition was observed for raw seeds (95.32 %), peel (88.92 %), and pigment (76.64 %) extracts, with enhanced activity after pigment fractionation. For tyrosinase, fractions from the peel and pigment showed the highest inhibition (32.27 % and 24.76 %). STOCSY analysis enabled the first annotation of ozic acid in this species. HPLC-MS/MS anotated 22 compounds, including quercetin derivatives and other known elastase inhibitors. These findings highlight the bioactive potential of these fruit parts and support their application in cosmetic and industrial contexts.