Grade 10 students create soap to kill bacteria from betel leaves

By using betel nut, the group of students from Nhan Viet High School created a soap with antibacterial properties with natural, safe, human-friendly and environmental origin.

Currently, triclosan is the main biocide used in 70% of cleaning products on the market due to its high antibacterial and antifungal properties. However, some recent studies have shown that triclosan has the potential to cause negative effects on animals, plants and humans.

In surface water environments, triclosan can interact with sunlight and bacteria forming methyl triclosan , a chemical that can bioaccumulate in wildlife and humans causing infertility and disruption. Endocrine. In tap water, triclosan can react with chlorine to form a series of by-products including chloride, an active ingredient suspected to cause cancer.

Therefore, today, replacing triclosan with other antibacterial, human-friendly and environmental antimicrobial agents is an issue of concern to many countries and businesses.

Triclosan is the main biocide used in 70% of cleaning products on the market due to its high antibacterial and antifungal properties.

Facing this problem, two students Tran Thi Quyen Linh and Nguyen Nhat Thanh Vinh, class 10C1 of Nhan Viet High School have studied and successfully researched the topic "Application of betel antimicrobial properties does not replace triclosan in soap hand washing room " .

According to Thanh Vinh, betel is not a valuable medicinal plant, is grown quite a lot in Vietnam to cure some diseases such as sores, pimples, headaches due to weather changes, antiseptic wounds . and effective high.

Besides, betel nuts also do not have aromatic essential oils and have very strong antibiotic effect on bacteria such as Staphylococci, Streptococcus, Streptococcus, Subtillis bacteria and Coli bacilli. "The application of antimicrobial properties in betel leaf extract without making antiseptic soap to replace triclosan is the first step that can help us advance to a healthy life for health," Thanh Vinh said.

Accordingly, the betel leaves after being washed will be divided into two parts. The first part is dried in natural light for 3 days and then dried at a temperature of 40 degrees C. After that, betel leaves will be ground and soaked in ethanol solution, followed by the filtration process and she turns to High extract of betel leaf extract is obtained. The remaining fresh leaves will be minced and distilled to get the essential oil.

"In the context of a research topic, we have no conditions to be able to analyze which way we will get the oil essence more efficiently, so we use two ways to collect essential oil from betel leaves. Dried and fresh betel leaves, later, if the topic is expanded, we will find the optimal way to obtain the highest possible essential oils , ' Quyen Linh said.

Next, soap embryos will be boiled in water, while adding non-betel and coconut oil with appropriate concentration to produce the final product.

Sharing about the process of implementing the topic, Thanh Vinh said: "We have just been in grade 10, so the knowledge of chemistry is not much. With the problems not understood, we often find more information on this. network and ask the teachers to answer, because of boarding school, so they only need to have free time, they have to take advantage of the experiment to work. "

With a bright smile, Quyen Linh added: "Because the school lab does not have enough tools, we were introduced by our teachers to the laboratory of the University of Natural Sciences. In the first time, we suffered always overwhelmed by many modern equipment too, I don't know how to use these tools, but thankfully, when I was finally instructed, we got used to it and finished the project ".

Tran Thi Quyen Linh and Nguyen Nhat Thanh Vinh with the theme "Betel antimicrobial application does not replace triclosan in hand washing soap".

According to Mr. Bui Gia Hieu, Principal of the Vietnamese High School, the cost of making a soapbox containing no betel nut oil (type 50g) in the laboratory is about VND 10,500. While the price of normal soap products (type 80g) ranges from 8,000 to 40,000. "If produced by industrial scale, the cost of the product will be greatly reduced. Because of the use of antibacterial active ingredients from natural sources , this product will contribute to protecting human health in a proper way. In the coming time, the school will seek funding to help commercialize this product to the market ".

With their effects, the topic "Betel antimicrobial application of not replacing triclosan in hand washing soap" has won the best prize in the Science and Technology Contest for HCMC high school students in the year. 2016.