Highly Concentrated Cocamidopropyl Betaine – The Latest Developments for Improved Sustainability and Enhanced Skin Care

Today Cocamidopropyl Betaine (CAPB) is the most important secondary surfactant used in personal care and household products. Even the most modern CAPB-types still contain more water than active matter. Water which needs to be heated in the manufacturing process, which needs to be transported, and needs to be stored in storage tanks. The high water content not only contributes to the cost of production and logistics, but is also not favorable with respect to sustainability. Continuous research in the field of betaines has lead to another break-through in CAPB quality with a product containing approximately 47% active matter and less than 43% water. Thus, savings in energy consumption and shipping volume of more than 36% can be achieved as compared to the common 30% CAPB quality. The typically desired surfactant properties, the positive effects on foam and rheology could be maintained. Moreover, further improvements in quality and even additional skin care effects such as enhanced skin moisturization could be achieved.

Interaction of self-assembled monolayers of oligo(ethylene glycol)-terminated alkanethiols with water studied by vibrational sum-frequency generation

Vibrational sum-frequency generation (VSFG) was used to investigate the conformational changes in self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) of (1-mercaptoundec-11-yl) hexa(ethylene glycol) monomethylether (EG6-OMe) on gold when exposed to liquid water. VSFG spectra of the EG6-OMe SAMs were recorded before, during, and after exposure of the films to water and after a subsequent evacuation step. While in contact with water the entire ethylene glycol chains are found in a random, solvated state, after removal from the fluid water molecules remain absorbed only at the terminal groups of the film giving rise to distinct conformational changes. After evacuation, the structure of the EG6-OMe SAM reverts to its original state, indicating that water has been removed from the monolayer. Our findings support recent ab initio calculations and Monte Carlo simulations on the interaction of ethylene glycol-terminated monolayers with water.