Abstract
Abstract
The skin is the largest organ in the body and the skin barrier is important to reduce moisture loss, prevent irritations and bacterial infections. The complex skin barrier consists of essential lipids such as ceramides together with cholesterol and free fatty acids. Hydroxypropyl Bispalmitamide MEA or PC-104 is claimed to be a compound created to mimic ceramides and claimed to have similar effectiveness as Ceramide 3 at moisturising the skin and restoring the skin barrier. The objective of this study is to evaluate the structure characterisation of Hydroxypropyl Bispalmitamide MEA and whether it can be categorised as a ceramide. Three different spectroscopy and physico chemical analysis conducted on the two samples revealed the structural formula and chemical composition of Hydroxypropyl Bispalmitamide MEA to be different from Ceramide 3. Therefore, the two compounds cannot be considered to contain the same chemical structural make up, based on spectral analysis generated by instrumentation. Hydroxypropyl Bispalmitamide MEA cannot be categorised as a ceramide because it is lacking the sphingosine moiety.