Today’s consumers expect full transparency on the ingredients used in the cosmetics they purchase. They want to make sure the products have little to no environmental impact, are entirely safe and highly efficient. In order to meet this challenge, Chimex and Syntivia have recently joined forces to identify a new active ingredient, combining hi-tech genomic screening, ethnobotany and eco-friendly extraction technology.

Hi-tech experts at the service of green cosmetics

Syntivia’s cosmetic experts have recently joined forces with sustainable chemistry specialist Chimex in a collaborative ethnobotany project that was designed to identify a new green active cosmetic ingredient. Syntivia drew from their hi-tech experience in active ingredients to suggest a new potential target for green cosmetics: a tropical plant that is frequently used by the local population to improve skin tone and reduce wrinkles. A large number of samples was required so Syntivia could determine the active ingredient in this plant, which is when Chimex’s expertise in developing sustainable processes provided a unique solution.

Chimex : an innovative extraction process for a large number of samples

Chimex is an expert in developing eco-friendly industrial processes. To enable the large-scale biological screening operation needed for this joint project with Syntivia, Chimex used their Deep By Phytoreveal™ extraction process. This unique technology is based on process intensification and able to reveal sensitive compounds trapped in even the hardest or most fibrous plant parts without degrading them. The use of intense mechanical energy shortens extraction time while allowing to obtain different extraction profiles. The whole process requires up to 50% less solvent than standard extraction procedures. Temperature, solvent and solvent/biomass ratios were subjected to a number of variations to obtain an even larger amount of samples for analysis.

Syntivia: hi-tech tools for large-scale biological screening

Syntivia’s wide range of state-of-the-art tools for biological screening are designed to determine the best ingredient sample, its most efficient concentration as well as the best parameters for extraction efficiency. All samples provided by Chimex were screened in Syntivia’s cosmetogenomic chip, a robust tool for biological analysis that uses microfluidic technology. Cosmetogenomic chips are especially useful when testing active ingredients or cosmetic formulations on cell models or human skin explants.The cosmetogenomic chip is able to quantify genic expression for 96 conditions x  96 genes and yields reliable results for efficient analysis.

The result: a new, promising, sustainable and green cosmetic ingredient

The dual Syntivia/Chimex strategy efficiently identified the best extract for cosmetic application out of a wide number of possibilities. The combination of Chimex’s Deep By Phytoreveal™ technology with Syntivia’s hi-tech tools for biological analysis enabled the retrieval and screening of a large amount of candidate samples in order to determine – with great precision – the best active ingredient for a new era of green cosmetics.

Please don’t hesitate to contact the Chimex and Syntivia teams for more information on this project.