Photostabilization of sunscreen oil through preparation of a free-flowing powder

Fully-biobased UV-absorbing nanoparticles from ethyl cellulose and zein for environmentally friendly photoprotection

Effective photoprotection is a vital consumer issue. However, there are many concerns regarding the adverse environmental and health impacts associated with current organic and inorganic UV filters. Here, we prepare fully-biobased UV-absorbing nanoparticles from ethyl cellulose (ECNPs) and zein (ZNPs) with encapsulated biobased photoprotectants obtainable from plants and foods (quercetin, retinol, and p-coumaric acid), which have the potential to satisfy both environmental and health issues in photoprotection. We show the ability of ECNPs and ZNPs to be easily tuned compositionally to obtain uniform, broadband UV spectrum absorbance profiles, and prepare transparent UV-absorbing coatings from the ECNPs. We find that the maximum loadings for retinol, quercetin, and p-coumaric acid into the ECNPs are 31 wt%, 14 wt%, and 13 wt% respectively. The ECNP size remains constant (except for the largest loading of retinol, 31 wt%) and the absolute zeta potential increases upon increasing the loading of quercetin and retinol, whereas increasing the loading of p-coumaric acid results in increasing the particle size and a lower absolute zeta potential. We find that quercetin and retinol are effectively retained inside the ECNPs at 64–70% after 72 hours. These results have significant implications for the development of novel photoprotection technologies and functional nanoparticles.

UV-absorbing nanoparticles are prepared with an entirely biobased composition, as a novel environmentally-friendly photoprotection technology.

New Hybrid Organic/Inorganic Polysilsesquioxane-Silica Particles as Sunscreens

Effectiveness of organic sunscreens is limited by phototoxicity and degradation. Both of which can be significantly reduced by encapsulation in hollow particles or covalent incorporation into the solid structure of particles, but direct comparisons of the two methods have not been reported. In this study, physical encapsulation and covalent incorporation of sunscreens were compared with 1 mol % salicylate and curcumeroid sunscreens. 2-Ethylhexyl salicylate was physically encapsulated in hollow silica nanoparticles prepared by oil-in-water (O/W) microemulsion polymerizations (E-Sal). Some of these particles were coated with an additional shell or cap of silica to reduce leaking of sunscreen (cap-E-Sal). Covalent incorporation involved co-polymerizing tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) with 0.2 mol % of new salicylate and curcuminoid sunscreen monomers with triethoxsilyl groups. Particles were prepared with the salicylate attached to the silica matrix through single silsesquioxane groups (pendant; P-Sal) and two silsesquioxane groups (bridged; B-Sal). Particles based on a new curcuminoid-bridged monomer were also prepared (B-Curc). Sunscreen leaching, photodegradation, and sunscreen performance were determined for the E-Sal, cap-E-Sal, P-Sal, B-Sal, and B-Curc particles. Covalent attachment, particularly with bridged sunscreen monomers, reduced leaching and photodegradation over physical encapsulation, even with capping.