Antibacterial Composition Low Surfactant Skin Irritation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Commercial antibacterial compositions, such as hand soaps and body washes, often contain high levels of surfactants that exceed 20 weight percent to meet FDA standards, leading to skin irritation and reduced efficacy due to interference with antibacterial actives, especially phenol-based actives with poor water solubility, which require higher surfactant amounts to dissolve.
Innovation Solution
Formulating antibacterial compositions with surfactant levels below 6 weight percent and antibacterial actives below 0.2 weight percent, maintaining a pH between 6.0 and 6.5, utilizing sodium laureth sulfate, cocamidopropyl betaine, and triclosan, to achieve a logarithmic reduction of at least 2.0 in bacterial populations without causing skin irritation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If high levels of surfactants (20.0 weight percent or more) are used to meet FDA antibacterial efficacy standards, then antibacterial efficacy is improved, but skin irritation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the concentration parameters of surfactants and antibacterial actives to lower levels (surfactants less than 6.0 weight percent, antibacterial actives less than 0.2 weight percent) while adjusting pH to 6.0-6.5 to achieve both FDA efficacy standards and reduced skin irritation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses a composite formulation combining specific surfactants (sodium laureth sulfate and cocamidopropyl betaine) with antibacterial actives (triclosan) in optimized proportions to achieve synergistic antibacterial efficacy at lower overall concentrations
2Quantity of substance
If high levels of surfactants are used to dissolve phenol-based antibacterial actives with poor water solubility, then solubility is improved, but skin irritation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the pH parameter to 6.0-6.5 and uses specific surfactant combinations to improve the solubility of phenol-based antibacterial actives without requiring high surfactant concentrations, thereby avoiding skin irritation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses surfactants as intermediary substances to solubilize phenol-based antibacterial actives that have poor water solubility, enabling their effective use at low concentrations (less than 0.2 weight percent) without needing high levels of surfactants
3Reliability
If high concentrations of surfactants and antibacterial actives are used to achieve increased antibacterial log reduction, then antibacterial efficacy is improved, but the composition becomes more irritating to skin
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes multiple parameters simultaneously - reducing surfactant concentration to less than 6.0 weight percent, reducing antibacterial active concentration to less than 0.2 weight percent, and adjusting pH to 6.0-6.5 - to achieve a balance between antibacterial log reduction of at least 2.0 and minimal skin irritation
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replicates and validates the efficacy of the optimized formulation through in-use testing on human hands, demonstrating that the lower concentration formula achieves comparable antibacterial log reduction to traditional high-concentration formulations without the associated skin irritation
Data Source
AI summary
An antibacterial composition includes at least one surfactant that is less than 6.0 weight percent of the composition and at least one antibacterial active that is less than 0.2 weight percent of the composition. The composition also has a pH between 6.0 and 6.5. The composition also exhibits an efficacy characteristic that results in a logarithmic reduction of at least 2.0 of a bacterial population based on measurements taken from of a user's hand.