The UK-based company has received funding from a regional organisation based in Yorkshire, UK, Intelligent Formulations, to further the understanding of formulating with green surfactants in skin care.
‘Precise science’
Creating successful microemulsions is a very precise science, Syntopix CEO Dr Stephen Jones explained to CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com.
“When you make an emulsion it’s a mixture of water, oil and the surfactant or soap, a three way system. The challenge of developing stable, useful microemulsions is finding the precise combination of those three ingredients,” he said.
The research grant from Intelligent Formulations will sponsor one month’s work on the microemulsions, and Syntopix hopes to determine the parameters that affect formulating with the green surfactants to inform future formulation efforts.
Throughout the project the company will collaborate with researchers at the University of Leeds and the University of Toronto, and use technology from R&D service provider VLCI in Amsterdam, and results are expected to be published in April 2011.
“We will be working with experts on this, trying to tie up the three components of the emulsion in such a way that it gives us the best result,” Jones said.
Antimicrobial ingredients in microemulsions
In addition to shedding light on formulating with green surfactants, Syntopix is also hoping the research project will help inform how its own antimicrobial ingredients can be used in microemulsion systems.
The company has developed a number of antimicrobial ingredients that it claims could be useful in anti-acne formulations, anti-gingivitis preparations and products helping to fight against body odour.
“The challenge with these ingredients is not their activity as such but more getting the formulation right so it can exert its action where it is needed in the body,” Jones explained.
Syntopix hopes that the primary research completed on the behaviour of the green surfactants in the microemulsion systems could help inform how to successfully incorporate other ingredients, such as antimicrobials, into the systems, Jones added.