FORM - 2
THE PATENTS ACT, 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patents Rules, 2003
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(See Section 10 and Rule 13)
A MASSAGE OIL COMPOSITION
HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED, a company incorporated under
the Indian Companies Act, 1913 and having its registered office
at 165/166, Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai -400 020, Maharashtra, India
The following specification particularly describes the invention and the manner in which it is to be performed.

TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a massage oil composition and more particularly to a massage oil composition that is used in Ayurvedic massage therapies that provides enhanced efficacy in addition to improving the sensory properties when used on the skin.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
There are many types of treatments that people go in for, for relief from their ailments. The most common type of treatment is afforded by modern medicine which is also known as allopathic form of medicine. In many parts of the world, alternative systems of medicine thrive alongside the modern forms e.g. Homeopathic system, naturopathy etc. Similarly there are a few countries where traditional forms of medicine have been developed over millennia e.g Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) in China and Ayurveda and other forms of traditional medicines like Siddha and Unani in India.
Of these, Ayurveda is highly advanced and has developed over many thousands of years. The history of such long years of use has validated the safety and efficacy of this form of treatment. Ayurveda comprises many forms of treatments including medicines for internal use and medicines for external application along with many others. Among the external treatments, Ayurveda places a lot of emphasis on delivery of medications through massage treatments.
Massage treatments in Ayurveda generally consist of using medicated oils. Medicated oils have principally three components namely, drava or qwatha (usually an aqueous decoction of one or more herbs), kalka (a fine paste of herbs) and sneha dravya (a vegetable oil). Normally crude sesame oil (SO) is used as sneha dravya, though occasionally castor oil and coconut oil are also used either in parts or in full. For most Ayurvedic oil recipes, the ratio of the three components are, kalka one part, sneha dravya four parts and drava 16

parts. The process of preparation of these medicated oils is also generally well standardized.
The general process is that herbs are ground to get coarse powder and mixed with just sufficient quantity of water to get a pasty mass to obtain the kalka. The raw or powdered herbs are moistened with water and boiled with 16 times the volume of water to that of herb. The boiling is continued to reduce the volume to one fourth. The decoction is strained using a muslin cloth to obtain the qwatha [also written as kwatha some times]. The sneha dravya i.e the vegetable oil e.g. sesame oil is taken in a vessel and heated for some time. The qwatha and the kalka are then added to the oil and mixed while boiling. This mixture is boiled, usually on mild fire with stirring and this is continued till all the water evaporates. It is preferred that well-cooked oil should not have any residual moisture (i.e it should be less than 0.1 %). The oil is then usually strained while warm through muslin cloth and allowed to cool.
The medicated oils thus prepared are used for various massage therapies. The present inventors have been working with such medicated oils for several years and also researched the efficacy of such oils in massage therapies. They found that such Ayurvedic medicated oils leave a sticky feeling on the skin after the therapy which continues even after the person has had a bath with hot water. The present inventors have worked on the problem of providing for a medicated oil that continues to provide the efficacy, if not provide improved efficacy while being less sticky and therefore provide a smoother and sensorially more pleasant feeling when applied on the skin.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide for a massage oil composition that is relatively less sticky when applied on the skin.

It is another object of the present invention to provide for a massage oil composition that in addition to being relatively less sticky is more efficacious in delivering the desired actives on to skin.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the present invention there is provided a massage oil composition comprising
a. 95 to 99.8% sesame oil;
b. 0.1 to 5% plant extracts; and
c. 0.1 to 5% silicone oil.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention there is provided a process to prepare the massage oil composition of the invention comprising the steps of
a. preparing an aqueous extract of said plant;
b. mixing said aqueous extract with the sesame oil to prepare a mixture;
c. boiling said mixture with continuous stirring till substantially free of water;
d. cooling said mixture to a temperature in the range of 25 to 50 °C; and
e. mixing said silicone oil with the material prepared in step (d).
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
These and other aspects, features and advantages will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art from a reading of the following detailed description and the appended claims. For the avoidance of doubt, any feature of one aspect of the present invention may be utilised in any other aspect of the invention. The word "comprising" is intended to mean "including" but not necessarily "consisting of or "composed of." In other words, the listed steps or options need not be exhaustive. It is noted that the examples given in the description below are intended to clarify the invention and are not intended to

limit the invention to those examples per se. Similarly, all percentages are weight/weight percentages unless otherwise indicated. Except in the operating and comparative examples, or where otherwise explicitly indicated, all numbers in this description and claims indicating amounts of material or conditions of reaction, physical properties of materials and/or use are to be understood as modified by the word "about". Numerical ranges expressed in the format "from x to y" are understood to include x and y. When for a specific feature multiple preferred ranges are described in the format "from x to y", it is understood that all ranges combining the different endpoints are also contemplated.
By "massage oil composition" as used herein, is meant to include a composition for topical application to skin and/or hair of mammals, especially humans. The massage oil composition is usually applied with some pressure on the external surface of the body. This may be applied by the consumer himself or by a trained massage therapist.
The massage oil composition of the invention comprises the usual ingredients which is the base oil and plant extracts. The base oil here is sesame oil and is present in 95 to 99.8%, more preferably 97 to 99.8%, further more preferably 98 to 99.8% by weight of the composition. The plant extract is present in 0.1 to 5%, preferably 0.1 to 2% by weight of the oil composition. The plant extract could be any of the plant extracts that provide benefits to the skin e.g. Rubia Cordifolia, Symplocos racemosa, or Gfycyrrhiza glabra. If skin lightening benefits are sought to be delivered to the skin the plant extract is preferably from the plant Rubia Cordifolia. The plant parts used in the composition may be selected from any part of the plant but preferably from the stem, bark, leaves, flowers, or roots. It is particularly preferred that the bark of the plant is used.
The massage oil composition of the invention comprises 0.1 to 5% silicone oil. Silicone compounds generally have the base structure where there is a Si-H containing siloxane is of the general formula:


where a and e are integers ranging from about 1-10,000. A large number of derivatives of this siloxane base are available and may be used as the silicone oil component of the massage oil composition of the invention.
The silicone oil is present in 0.1 to 5%, preferably 0.1 to 2%, more preferably 0.1 to 1 % by weight of the composition.
It has been observed that inclusion of the silicone oil in these selective amounts in the massage oil composition of the invention provides for the reduced stickiness while ensuring better spreadability and thereby pleasant sensorials on the skin where the massage is carried out.
The massage oil composition of the invention preferably comprises 0.1 to 5% penetration enhancers selected from the class of fatty acid esters. The most suitable fatty acid ester for use in the present invention is isopropyl myristate. The penetration enhancer is preferably present in 0.5 to 2.5% by weight of the composition. It has been surprisingly found that while the penetration enhancer is expected to enhance efficacy of the actives present in the plant extracts, it generally does not provide the 'reduction in stickiness' afforded by the silicone oil. However a combination of silicone oil and the penetration enhancer retains the 'reduction in stickiness' while affording the enhancement in penetration. Thus the silicone oil and the penetration enhancer interact synergistically to provide the enhanced 'reduction in stickiness' while ensuring the improved efficacy of the active present in the massage oil composition.
The composition of the invention may optionally comprise aromatic oils. 0.2 to 1.5% aromatic oils. Various aromatic oils may be included depending on the

benefits they afford. Gandhapuro ka tail (Gautheria fragrantissima) may be included at 0.1-1.5% by weight of the composition for providing muscle relaxation benefits. Lavang ka tail (Eugenia Caryophyllata) is another aromatic oil which may be included at 0.06-0.6% for providing muscle relaxation benefits. Chandan oil (Santalum album) at 0.08-0.8% may be included for providing relaxation and rejuvenation benefits. Davana oil (Artemisia Pallens) at 0.05-0.6% may be included to provide got refreshment and rejuvenation benefits. Nutmeg oil (Myristica fragrans)at 0.025-0.5% and/or Tagr oil (Valeriana Wallichii) at 0.03 to 0.5% may be included to provide sleep promotion.
According to a preferred aspect of the present invention there is provided a
process to prepare a massage oil composition of the invention comprising the
steps of
(i) preparing an aqueous extract of said plant;
(ii) mixing said aqueous extract with the sesame oil to prepare a mixture;
(iii) boiling said mixture with continuous stirring till substantially free of water;
(iv) cooling said mixture to a temperature in the range of 25 to 50 °C; and
(v) mixing said silicone oil with the material prepared in step (iv).
In the above process the aqueous extract of said plant is preferably in the form of a paste. According to a further preferred aspect both an aqueous extract in solution form and another in paste form are used for preparing the composition of the invention, fn preparing the aqueous extract in solution form the powdered part of the plant (preferably in 10 to 30 mesh size) is mixed with 16 times the volume of water and boiled. In preparing the paste form, powdered form of the plant (about 40 mesh size) is mixed with minimal amount of water to prepare the paste. The aqueous extract in solution form and the paste form, when both present are in a weight ratio of about 16: 1. This mixture is generally boiled till the volume is reduced to a fourth of the original volume. The oil is then added and boiled. The volume of the aqueous extract and the oil is preferably in a weight ratio of about 1:1 at this stage. The mixture is then boiled slowly till all of

the water is evaporated. The temperature is usually kept below 100 °C except in the final stages for evaporation of the final traces of moisture when the temperature reaches 105 to 110 °C. The medicated oil thus prepared is cooled
According to a preferred aspect of the process of the present invention the penetration enhancer may be mixed with the massage oil composition after step (v). According to a further preferred aspect of the process of the present invention one or more aromatic oil may be mixed with the massage oil composition after step (v), either before mixing the penetration enhancer, after mixing or the two of them may be mixed together at the same time.
The invention will now be demonstrated with the help of the following non-limiting examples:
Examples:
After a lot of studies with physical properties of massage oils like surface tension, viscosity and flow rate on inclined plate, the present inventors found that surface tension of the oil as measured using a Kruss Tensiometer is well correlated with improved spreading of the oil. The lower the surface tension, the better the spreadability. To check the spreadability, various samples of sesame oil comprising 0.1 to 5% extract of Rubia Cordifolia were prepared and the surface tension of the samples were measured. The compositions and the respective surface tensions are summarized in Table -1.

Table-1;

Example No Silicone oil (wt%) Isopropyl Myristate (wt%) Sesame oil with Rubia extract (wt%) Surface tension (mN/m)
1 0 0 100 32.50
2 0.2 0 99.8 22.64
3 0.3 0 99.7 22.47
4 1.0 0 99.0 22.25
5 0 1.0 99.0 32.73
6 0 1.5 98.5 32.00
7 0 2.5 97.5 31.6
8 0.2 1.0 98.8 22.6
9 0.3 1.5 98.2 22.4
10 1.0 2.5 96.5 22.34
The data in Table -1 indicates that the massage oil without any silicone oil or isopropyl myristate (Example - 1) does not provide good spreading as evidenced by the high value of surface tension. Samples with silicone oil (Examples 2 to 4) provide for the desired enhanced spreading as evidenced by the low surface tension values. Inclusion of a penetration enhancer in addition to the silicone oil provides for the enhanced penetration enhancement and thereby enhanced efficacy of the skin lightening agent (Rubia Cordifolia extract present in the sesame oil) while ensuring that the spreadability is good {evidenced by the low surface tension values in Examples 8 to 10). It is also observed that inclusion of the penetration enhancer (isopropyl myristate in Examples 5 to 7) without including the silicone oil does not provide for the desired spreadability.

We Claim
1. A massage oil composition comprising
(i) 95 to 99.8% sesame oil;
(ii) 0.1 to 5% plant extracts; and (iii) 0.1 to 5% silicone oil.
2. A composition as claimed in claim 1 comprising 0.1 to 2% plant extracts.
3. A composition as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein the extracts are from plants of the species Rubia Cordifolia.
4. A composition as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising 0.1 to 1 % silicone oil.
5. A composition as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising 0.1 to 5% penetration enhancers selected from the class of fatty acid esters.
6. A composition as claimed in claim 5 wherein the fatty acid ester is isopropyl myristate.
7. A composition as claimed in claims 5 or 6 comprising 0.5 to 2.5% of said penetration enhancer.
8. A composition as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising 0.2 to 1.5% aromatic oils.
9. A process to prepare a massage oil composition as claimed in any one of the preceding claims comprising the steps of
(i) preparing an aqueous extract of said plant;
(ii) mixing said aqueous extract with the sesame oil to prepare a mixture;

(iii) boiling said mixture with continuous stirring till substantially free of water; (iv) cooling said mixture to a temperature in the range of 25 to 50 °C; and (v) mixing said silicone oil with the material prepared in step (iv).
10. A process as claimed in claim 9 wherein said aqueous extract of said plant is in the form of a paste.
11. A process as claimed in claim 9 or 10 wherein aromatic oils are mixed with the massage oil composition after step (v).