Patent Picks—Ceramide, Magnolia, Coumarin, Banyan Tree/Lotus/Clover Alternatives to Hydroquinone and More

By: Rachel L. Grabenhofer

Posted: September 18, 2012

Chosen biweekly for their relevance to personal care, Patent Picks are taken from publicly available sources. This edition features patents related to skin lightening and pigmentation.

Ceramide kojic acid-alternative to depigment the skin
US Patent 8268805
Publication date: Sept. 18, 2012
Assignee: L'Oréal

Hydroquinone is particularly irritant and cytotoxic to melanocytes, thus substances have been sought that do not intervene in its mechanism of melanogenesis, but which instead act upstream on tyrosinase by preventing its activation and as a result, are much less toxic. According to this invention, kojic acid is commonly used to inhibit tyrosinase activation by complexing the copper present in the active site of this enzyme. Unfortunately, kojic acid is unstable in solution, thereby complicating its manufacture. There thus remains a need for a new agent to whiten human skin that is as effective as the known agents but that does not exhibit their drawbacks.

In response, the present invention relates to the use, as an agent for depigmenting and/or whitening the skin—in particular for eliminating pigmentary spots, senescence spots and/or as anti-browning agents—of a compound of the formula (I): R1—CHOH—CH(NH—COR2)(CH2OH), in which R1 denotes a C11 to C21 alkyl radical and R2 denotes a linear, optionally hydroxylated, C11-C19 hydrocarbon-based radical, with the hydroxyl group being in the alpha-position with respect to the carbonyl, which may comprise one or more ethylenic unsaturations, in particular one or two ethylenic unsaturations. The invention also relates to a process for depigmenting and/or lightening skin comprising the application of a composition comprising the compound of formula (I).

Magnolia sieboldii active to whiten skin
US Patent 8268295
Publication date: Sept. 18, 2012
Assignee: Coreana Cosmetics Co., Ltd.

The present inventors have investigated various skin physiological activities for natural plant components to improve skin pigmentation and have found that, among natural plant extracts, an extract of Magnolia sieboldii has excellent effects of inhibiting tyrosinase activity and melanin production. In addition, it causes no skin irritation. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a skin-whitening cosmetic composition containing an extract of Magnolia sieboldii as an active ingredient.