SCC Annual Scientific Meeting and Technology Showcase Report

By: Katie Schaefer

Posted: December 16, 2008

page 12 of 12

Sulfopolyester properties and applications: Next up was James McCaulley, PhD, of Eastman Chemical Co., who described water-dispersible sulfopolyesters—low molecular weight, aromatic copolyesters that contain random sulfonate groups. According to McCaulley, a broad range of properties is achieved by varying their composition and structure. He provided an overview of these compositions and described how their unique combination of properties determine their performance as functional film formers in a variety of personal care applications. Two important differences they offer are their exceedingly small particle size and effective plasticization by water. These differences are said to facilitate deformation and coalescence of the film. In the end, McCaulley noted these molecules offer great latitude in tailoring polymer properties to many cosmetic applications.

Lipid unsaturation, membrane protein and gel phase of mixed phospholipids: Finally, John W. Jones, PhD, of SCEAS and the University of Manchester, rounded out the scientific talks. According to Jones, glycerophospholipids have long been used in emulsification and encapsulation technologies and they are useful when a product is designed for in vivo or topical applications. Being natural, the materials are finding heavy used in cosmetics and drug delivery applications; however, little is known about the mechanism of phase transition of pure lecithin, and the phase diagram of the system is poorly understood. In the presented study, Jones and colleagues examined a mixed lecithin system containing both saturated and unsaturated chains and investigated the effect of a well-studies membrane protein, diacylglycerol kinase (DGK) on the phase behavior of the bilipids. He concluded that the membrane lipid appears to promote the fluidity within the bilayer, accelerating the lipid relaxation to the final equilibrium volume. Jones believes that the membrane protein regulates the packing of the lipid in the head group region. He adds that the phenomena represented by his studies have implications for the behavior of lipid liposomes as an encapsulation technology, and for drug transport across the lipid boundary.