Amino-acid based surfactants have been widely used in the last two decades in personal care products as well as in household, industrial and institutional cleaners due to a lot of advantages.
They are very mild1-3 anionic surfactants, which do not lead to dry skin4 and protect it from the negative influence of severe surfactants5,6 such as SLS and SLES, by their use as co-surfactants. Additionally to good cleansing properties they show perfect foam formation. Herewith a high microporosity of foam supports its creaminess and stability.7 Amino-acid based surfactants are readily biodegradable8-10 and demonstrate extremely low toxicity.11 These two benefits are very important for creating ecologically pure products without a negative impact on the environment.
Glutamic acid based surfactants occupy a special position in this range of surface active ingredients because they can be obtained completely from renewable plant sources. This fact enables their application also for COSMOS12 and NaTrue13 certified natural personal care products.
Until now, the thickening of formulations based on these “green” surfactants represents the main problem with their application. In this case, addition of salt does not give the desired effect. Therefore it was necessary to use water-soluble polymers, such as xanthan gum or acrylates that affects sensory experience and appearance of the final product.
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