Green Chemistry Concepts in Personal Care and Cosmetics

Posted: February 14, 2008

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Microcide’s products use surfactants at low pH. Raising the pH diminishes the microbicidal properties, allowing safe environmental disposal and biodegradation of the products after use. These products selectively kill microorganisms on food-contact surfaces, on fresh fruits and vegetables, and on body parts (including mucosal and skin surfaces) without covalent chemical reactions.

Environmentally and cosmetically acceptable insect repellent: Unpleasant odors, stickiness, and cautions associated with many DEET-containing formulations of insect repellent too frequently may deter people from using these products, thus leaving themselves unprotected from the risk of bites, infection and disease. An alternative is picaridin, a custom molecule that has almost no scent to humans. It was developed under a hypothesis that repellency is triggered by action on specific olfactory receptors of insects. It is a safe, effective and environmentally friendly insect repellent that people will use, according to Lanxess Corp. and its parent company, Lanxess Deutschland GmbH (formerly part of Bayer AG).

Biocatalytic production of a soy-based sunscreen active: iSoy Technologies Corp. manufacturers a sunscreen active that meets all the criteria for a green chemical and a green production process. The chemical is made by biocatalysis of renewable feedstocks: ethanol, ferulic acid and soybean oil. Ferulic acid is 4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid, a phenolic compound widely distributed in plants. The biocatalyst is immobilized Candida antarctica lipase B in a solvent-free, packed-bed reactor. This enzyme efficiently transesterifies the ethyl ester of ferulic acid onto the glycerol backbone of vegetable oil. The result is a mixture of feruloylated monoacyl- and diacylglycerols. The biocatalyst retains good activity for months under continuous operation. The desired feruloylated acylglycerols are separated from unreacted ethyl ferulate and ferulic acid by molecular distillation or liquid carbon dioxide extraction.

Recovered ethyl ferulate and ferulic acid are returned to the process, resulting in very high atom efficiency. The manufacturing process does not use any organic solvents. The resulting nontoxic, biodegradable product has excellent properties as a UVA and UVB absorber, free-radical trap and antioxidant, making it a superior substitute for conventional petroleum-based sunscreen active agents and skin care ingredients.

Nail polish bottles with greener labels: RevTech Inc. responded to a need in the glass decorating industry for a decorated glass container that is aesthetically pleasing and durable and can be obtained in a cost-effective, environmentally friendly and energy-efficient manner. Envirogluv^c technology from RevTech offered a green alternative to paper labels, decals and applied ceramic labeling.
^c Envirogluv is a trademark of RevTech Inc.