Rosmarinic acid is a natural polyphenol carboxylic acid found in many Lamiaceae herbs such as lemon balm, rosemary, oregano, sage, thyme and peppermint. Chemically, rosmarinic acid is an ester of caffeic acid with 3, *-dihydroxyphenyl lactic acid. It is a red-orange powder that is slightly soluble in water, but well soluble in most organic solvents. High purity rosmarinic acid has a pale yellow to beige colour.

Rosmarinic acid is the most powerful water soluble antioxidant found in rosemary. The antioxidant activity of rosmarinic acid is stronger than that of caffeic acid, caffeic acid phenyl ester, chlorogenic acid and vitamin E. Rosmarinic acid helps to prevent cell damage caused by free radicals, thereby reducing the risk for cancer and atherosclerosis. Other health benefits of rosmarinic acid include anti-inflammatory, cytostatic, antiviral and anti-allergy effects.

Rosemary extracts also have been used for food preservation. In ***0 rosemary extracts have been approved as food antioxidants by the EU and been assigned E number **2. Due to its natural origin, rosemary extracts offer a very attractive clean label option for the food manufacturers, as it is labelled as 'antioxidant: extract of rosemary' or 'antioxidant: E **2'.

We supply both low purity rosmarinic acid which is suitable for the food applications and high purity rosmarinic acid (*0%, *5% and *8%) which can be seen its applications in medical, cosmetic and industrial uses.

Applications

- Antioxidant for sea food, meat, chocolate, edible oil and other foods with high fat content.

- Antioxidant for cosmetic products.

- Anti-HIV and anti-tumour drug.

- Because rosmarinic acid remains chemically stable under high temperature up to **0°C , it can be used in lubricants to prevent lubricants from being oxidised as high-temperature oxidative degradation is accelerated by high temperature.