SPECIALITY CHEMICALS

Plantacare® & Glucopon® 
(Alkyl Polyglucosides)

Everyone’s talking about them but why are they a natural choice?

A little bit of history…

Alkyl Polyglucosides or APGs (a.k.a alkyl polyglycosides) have been around for longer than you might think. First described by Emil Fischer in the early 1900s they remained mere curiosities for many years – rather like nylon and PTFE before them, interesting but waiting for the right markets and applications to come along. Always a leader in environmental awareness, Henkel saw their potential and took a lead in APG development by making them commercially available for personal-care in 1992. Following the spin-off of Cognis from Henkel in 1999, the range of Plantacare surfactants marketed by exclusive distributor KemCare have become key ingredients for forward-thinking formulators.

What exactly are they then?

APGs are non-ionic surfactants and emulsifiers made by linking two plant-based raw materials: fatty alcohol from coconut or palm-kernel oil and glucose derived from native, unmodified, plant starch – principally corn (maize). The core range of pure APG products for personal-care applications is:  Plantacare® 1200 UP, Plantacare® 818 UP & Plantacare® 2000 UP. For home-care applications we have Glucopon®. The difference between the various Plantacares is that the polyglucoside bases contain a different cut of fatty alcohol. Altering the hydrophobic/hydrophilic balance in this way presents a spectrum of benefits and properties.

The Future – I’ve seen it and it’s green!

The demand for natural, environmentally friendly products shows no sign of abating but today’s green consumers have become much more sophisticated and far less willing to accept third-rate performance. At the same time, even if not fully committed to the Green & Organic philosophy, there can now be very few consumers not motivated to make their contribution to protecting the environment. In a market which many people find complicated and confusing, the Plantacare concept is refreshingly straightforward and credible.

More detail…

Benefits and Uses…

Excellent credentials

Made from entirely renewable, vegetable feedstock Plantacares are non-ionic but contain no ethylene oxide or other petrochemicals. Preservative free, they are supplied at a microbiologically stable pH of 11.5 – 12.5. Free of nitrogen, they contain no genetically modified (GM) material and cannot contribute to nitrosamine formation. In concentrated form they do have a pale yellow colour but this is insignificant at in-use levels and Plantacare’s are not known to cause colour reactions on long-term storage.  Their odour is low and pleasant. Last, but by no means least, when back in the environment after use they achieve Ultimate Biodegradability (EC648/2004).

Mildness

In-vitro and in-vivo tests (non-animal) confirm the mildness of all three Plantacares. As a primary surfactant in the Hen’s Egg (CAM) test, Plantacare® 1200 achieved a Q score for relative irritation 80 times milder than Sodium Laureth Sulphate (SLES) and 20 times milder than Cocoamphoacetate. Plantacare® 2000 is the least mild of the three but in the same test gave a result just twice that of Cocoamphoacetate. Furthermore, Plantacare® 1200 can reduce the irritation of more traditional surfactants. In another test, substitution of just 25% of SLES active matter with Plantacare® 1200 reduced relative irritation for both erythema and dryness by more than 25% and caused a dramatic 70 % drop in the participants’ own score for skin irritation.

Foaming

Plantacare’s create dense, creamy and pleasing foam. They often make attractive modifications to the characteristics of foam from conventional surfactants and blends. They work well with the traditional soap based systems frequently seen in organic certified formulas and can replace alkanolamide. The foaming capability of Plantacares can also permit reductions of active matter while maintaining performance parameters. Plantacares are insensitive to water hardness and also exhibit foam stabilising or viscosifying effects in the presence of sebum and with other surfactants types such as betaines, sulfosuccinates and ammonium or monoethanolamine lauryl sulphates. It is possible to replace some nitrogen containing surfactants, such as betaines, with Plantacares.

Viscosity

Just as diethanolamide or alcohol ethoxylate viscosity enhancers have minimal salt response on their own, electrolyte will not thicken solutions of pure Plantacare’s. However,  in a simple parallel test using SLES at 12% active matter as base surfactant and either Cocamide DEA or Plantacare 1200, the addition of 2.5 % salt produced near identical maximum viscosities.

Relative viscosifying effect: Plantacare 1200 > Plantacare 818 > Plantacare 2000

Compatibility

Stable in the low pH, around 4.5, environments often indicated for parabens-free preservatives they are not known to have any preservative inactivation effects. They are also very tolerant of strongly alkaline conditions. Compatible with anionic and non-ionic ingredients they sometimes improve the substantivity of cationic skin and hair actives. Safe with a wide variety of packaging materials they do not show the stress-cracking effect on plastics often observed with non-ionic surfactants.

Creative blending

When used to substitute active matter, different levels of replacement by showed improvements to mildness improvements in proportion to Plantacare concentration. Of course, they can themselves be mixed in varying proportions to achieve the desired balance of foaming, mildness and viscosity response. For example, there is a “golden blend” of Texapon NSO,  Plantacare® 818 and Dehyton K, in the  ratio of 6:1:1 by active matter, which exhibits an optimum balance across mildness, foaming, viscosity building and cost. This is available as Plantapon® 611C.  Use your imagination and create your own “golden blends.”

Have we whetted your appetite?

This information is only a taster for what is possible with Cognis APGs. Apart from the possibilities with cleansing formulations, we can help with skin-care emulsions too. Example formulations and advice for the gamut of applications from baby-care to facial washes, shampoos, body-care and shower-gels are only a click on the mouse or a phone call away. We look forward to hearing from you.