Chandra Ade-Browne1, Arnab Dawn1, Marzieh Mirzamani1, Shuo Qian2, Harshita Kumari3. 1. James Winkle College of Pharmacy, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0514, USA. 2. Neutron Scattering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA. 3. James Winkle College of Pharmacy, 231 Albert Sabin Way, Cincinnati, OH 45267-0514, USA. Electronic address: kumariha@ucmail.uc.edu.
Abstract
HYPOTHESIS: Theory and practice have proven that the cleansing properties and irritation potential of surfactants can be controlled with the addition of co-surfactants or polymers. The size of the surfactant-polymer nanoassembly, which differs from the pure surfactant micelle, has been postulated to be the cause of the differences in a surfactant system's ability to disrupt the skin barrier. However, a firm structure-function relationship connecting polymer and surfactant under a consumer relevant condition is yet to be established. It is therefore hypothesized that apart from the size, the shape and the chemical nature of the polymer might play crucial roles. EXPERIMENTS: We used combined small-angle neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, tensiometry, and dye solubilization methods to investigate the shape, size, and intermolecular interactions involved in sodium laurylsulfate-based systems in the presence of two industrially important and chemically distinct polymers, polyethylene glycol and polyvinyl alcohol, adopting a consumer relevant protocol. FINDINGS: Apart from size, shape and inter-micellar interactions fine-tuned by the presence of the polymers are found to be the important factors. Secondly, the physicochemical property of the polymer including chemical structure, conformation, hydrophilicity, presence of side groups, all can have crucial influence on polymer-surfactant interaction, micelle formation, and micelle stability.
HYPOTHESIS: Theory and practice have proven that the cleansing properties and irritation potential of surfactants can be controlled with the addition of co-surfactants or polymers. The size of the surfactant-polymer nanoassembly, which differs from the pure surfactant micelle, has been postulated to be the cause of the differences in a surfactant system's ability to disrupt the skin barrier. However, a firm structure-function relationship connecting polymer and surfactant under a consumer relevant condition is yet to be established. It is therefore hypothesized that apart from the size, the shape and the chemical nature of the polymer might play crucial roles. EXPERIMENTS: We used combined small-angle neutron scattering, nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy, tensiometry, and dye solubilization methods to investigate the shape, size, and intermolecular interactions involved in sodium laurylsulfate-based systems in the presence of two industrially important and chemically distinct polymers, polyethylene glycol and polyvinyl alcohol, adopting a consumer relevant protocol. FINDINGS: Apart from size, shape and inter-micellar interactions fine-tuned by the presence of the polymers are found to be the important factors. Secondly, the physicochemical property of the polymer including chemical structure, conformation, hydrophilicity, presence of side groups, all can have crucial influence on polymer-surfactant interaction, micelle formation, and micelle stability.
Authors: Marzieh Mirzamani; Arnab Dawn; Vinod K Aswal; Ronald L Jones; Ed D Smith; Harshita Kumari Journal: RSC Adv Date: 2021-07-27 Impact factor: 4.036