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

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.

A 2-methylsuccinic acid diester derivative solvent for cosmetic compositions
WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/119861
Publication date: Sept. 13, 2012
Assignee: L'Oréal, H. Richard and B. Muller

This invention relates to the use of at least one 2-methylsuccinic acid diester derivative as a solvent in a composition comprising at least one liquid fatty phase and at least one lipophilic active agent for the purpose of dissolving the active agent in the liquid fatty phase and/or improving the solubility of the active in the solid fatty phase. The compositions comprising such an aminophenol derivative may be used as depigmenting or bleaching agents in a cosmetic and/or dermatological composition.

Method for the cosmetic treatment of skin redness
WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/117340
Publication date: Sept. 7, 2012
Assignee: L'Oréal, O. De Lacharrière and C. Tran

It has been found that specific ceramides make it possible to combat skin redness, in particular redness induced by UV irradiation, and that these ceramides, by favoring re-epithelialization, stimulate the healing and the recovery of a normal barrier function. Accordingly, disclosed in this patent is a cosmetic treatment method for reducing or preventing skin redness, characterized in that an effective amount of at least one compound of formula I is applied to the skin. Formula (I) is described as: R1-CHOH-CH(NH-COR2)(CH2OH), in which R1 denotes a C13 to C17 alkoyl or alkenyl radical, and R2 denotes a linear C13-C19 hydrocarbon-based radical, which may comprise one or more ethylenically unsaturated groups, especially one or two ethylenically unsaturated groups. Compositions containing the compound of formula (I) also are disclosed, which may be paired for calming, wound-healing or depigmenting benefits, among others.

Coumarin compounds as melanogenesis modifiers and uses thereof
US Patent Application 20120220545
Publication date: Aug. 30, 2012
Inventors: S.J. Orlow and L.N. Komatsu

The present invention is directed to compounds that may be identified by cell-based assays to control melanogenesis. In brief, compounds were screened and a plurality were found to modify, i.e. inhibit, melanogenesis, some of which were not previously known to exhibit such activity. As such, disclosed herein are embodiments directed to the identification of previously unidentified coumarin melanogenesis inhibitors and their use in controlling pigmentation in in vitro and in vivo applications. This disclosure further provides methods of administering the coumarin melanogenesis inhibitors as an extract or as a purified compound.

Oligonucleotide for modulating an isoform C beta-1 protein-kinase in the form of a skin depigmentation agent
US Patent 8252753
Publication date: Aug. 28, 2012
Assignee: LVMH Recherche

The purpose of this invention is an oligonucleotide with between 7 and 25 nucleotides, preferably 20, that is capable of specifically hybridizing with genes or products of genes coding for protein kinase C beta-1 (PKC beta-1). This invention also relates to the use of these oligonucleotide sequences as a depigmenting or bleaching agent for the skin in a cosmetic composition or in a topical pharmaceutical composition. According to the inventors, this invention solves the problems encountered in prior work by modulating the activation of the enzyme by phosphorylation instead of directly inhibiting the enzyme after it has been activated to obtain the depigmenting effect. Furthermore, these oligonucleotides according to the invention are not cytotoxic.

Composition comprising banyan tree, lotus and clover serum fractions to reduce hyperpigmentation
WIPO Patent Application WO/2012/115949
Publication date: Aug. 30,2012
Assignee: Akzo Nobel Chemicals International, B.V.; M. Koganov; and O. Dueva-Koganov

Disclosed herein is an invention relating to compositions comprising banyan tree, lotus and clover serum fractions and a method of improving the appearance of hyperpigmented spots. This method may comprise applying a composition incorporating the banyan tree, lotus and clover serum fractions to a hyperpigmented spot for a period of time sufficient to improve the appearance of the hyperpigmentation spot.

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