Best paper award from SCC

Entitled ‘Understanding the influence of emulsifiers, emollients and additives on lamellar phases in cosmetic emulsions’, the paper was authored mainly by Juergen Meyer, PhD of Evonik Industries. Co-authors were Verena Dahl, PhD and Joachim Venzmer, PhD as well as Brajesh Jha, PhD also working for Evonik Industries. “Lamellar bilayers, formed by combinations of emulsifiers and consistency modifiers, are classical ways for stabilising cosmetic emulsions. We systematically studied the formation of lamellar structures for a new PEGfree O/W emulsifier (Polyglyceryl-3 Dicitrate/ Stearate) and effects of additives on the formation of lamellar networks in emulsions. Our studies revealed that Polyglyceryl-3 Dicitrate/Stearate forms such liquid crystalline structures even without consistency enhancers. This finding explains why this emulsifier can be used without additional consistency enhancers for manufacturing stable O/W (oil-in-water) lotion systems,” said Juergen Meyer, PhD head of innovation management, Cosmetic Ingredients Leave-On, Evonik Industries. “Some bilayers are structured like onion layers around the emulsion droplets; some bilayers are present in the form of small vesicles in the aqueous phase of the emulsion. We were able to demonstrate that the consistency in cosmetic emulsions is built up by the steric interaction of these structures. In order to prove the existence of bilayers of a thickness of 4-8 nm bilayers in cosmetic emulsions and to show their impact on emulsion properties, we used a wide variety of technologies such as electron microscopy, neutron scattering and rheological measurement. Our findings actually lead to a revised model of how cosmetic O/W emulsions are structured.”