PRESERVATIVES 101
as allergies or sensitisation, which is why we are trying to educate end users and our customers that we need to have a wide spectrum and a balance of preservatives, not just one ingredient at a high dosage.
PC: Is this where the ‘hurdle’ approach comes in? A series of preservatives at a low dosage. KW: Yes, this is one of the avenues that formulators are using to solve this problem, and hurdle technology has to do with different ways of attacking the microorganism. Each of the hurdles is not enough to kill, but when you combine them you disrupt the homeostasis of the cells, so it has a more synergistic effect on the microorganism. So, for example, you can reduce the pH or add chelators or humectants so it reduces the water activity. You can also modify the packaging, so these are the different strategies that you can utilise as part of hurdle technology.
PC: Why are multifunctional ingredients particularly helpful in this area? Have they only recently been considered as a viable alternative option? KW: I think they have been considered all along, but people are paying more attention to them. For example, hurdle technology is something that comes from the food industry many years ago, and when you are limited with your options, you try to play and see if you can create an environment that is more resilient to microbial growth. So you start looking at multifunctional ingredients and the good thing is that you can bring in different functionalities and minimise the number of chemical compounds that are needed to formulate and utilise some of them to boost the antimicrobial properties of other preservatives in the formulation. As we said before, by attacking different areas, for example by adding chelators there is no more iron for the microorganisms to grow, humectants take the water away from microbes and you are creating a microenvironment that doesn’t support growth.
PC: Another benefit of multifunctionals is that they offer more appealing INCI names to consumers? KW: That’s correct. And the fact that I think everybody is looking into how they can minimise the number of chemicals that are put on the label to also offer a sustainability aspect as we are maximising the utility of the formulation.
PC: From a scientific perspective, what is it about fragrance compounds that make them effective in this area? KW: The chemistry is quite complex. They usually have active compounds such as
April 2018
alcohol, phenols, esters, and aldehydes and all of these are known to have antimicrobial properties a well. It is important to remember that they have developed as a natural defence against microbial infection and so they are already there in nature and we are just utilising them in a slightly different environment.
PC: Could you tell us more about Ashland’s new Conarom™
b aromatic and how it fits
into this sector? AW: Conarom b aromatic is an effective solution that addresses exactly that demand for multifunctionality as we were discussing with Karen, and also for trends looking to sustainable ingredients. And that combination is really generating a lot of interest from our customers. It is based on a naturally-derived hops extract, combined with a nature-identical alcohol – phenylpropanol, which is an ingredient which appears in many fruits and berries. So the customer gains the benefits of a pleasant smell along with antimicrobial properties.
PC: The new ingredient is suitable for wet wipes, could you explain why this medium is a particular challenge for preservatives? AW:Wet wipes are a particularly tricky system to preserve. You can imagine you have a totally different situation with the surface of the wet wipe compared to an emulsion or to a shampoo formulation. It is really an excellent environment for microbial growth and therefore you need to come up with a very good level of protection. And we just did evaluations on wet wipes and these showed us that Conarom b aromatic is a suitable system for these kinds of applications. The fragrance is another benefit as it adds a nice, mild smell which people can recognise.
PC: In what other ways will it make the lives of formulators easier? AW: By providing that gentle, flowery fragrance it really adds to the allure of the product and also helps to differentiate the end-use product and contributes to the microbial stabilisation of the end product due to the fact it has broad anti-microbial protection. And so, the formulator is gaining two, nice functional tools: the nice fragrance, and the anti-microbial protection.
In addition, it is easy to work with – it is
a liquid product – with a good formulation compatibility, and you can also use it in a wide pH range, which is something you should not underestimate. A lot of the technologies are based on organic acids and therefore the formulators are very limited with the pH, which means that getting a technology that works in a wide pH is really an advantage.
visit our stand K10
17-19 April 2018 Amsterdam
www.brb-international.com
PC PERSONAL CARE EUROPE
The power of smart ingredients
www.in-cosmetics.com/global AMBITION / FLEXIBILITY / PASSION / INNOVATION
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