Branched Polyglyceryl Fatty Acid Esters for Low-Temperature Oil Solubility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing polyglycerol fatty acid esters suffer from poor solubility in oil agents, leading to precipitation and turbidity, especially at low temperatures, and require additional steps to remove unreacted polyglycerol, with stability under low temperatures not adequately addressed.
Innovation Solution
A polyglycerol fatty acid ester with a specific branched glycerol group ratio (14-36%) and average polymerization (5-22), combined with a fatty acid of 6-22 carbon atoms, enhances solubility by forming stable reverse micelle structures, ensuring excellent solubility even at -5°C.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If polyglycerol is used to synthesize polyglycerol fatty acid ester, then the ester can be formulated into cosmetics, but poor solubility to oil agent causes precipitation and turbidity
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the structural parameters of polyglycerol by controlling the ratio of branched glycerol groups (formula 1) to be 14-36% and the average degree of polymerization to be 5-22. It also controls the total content of glycerol and diglycerol to be 2-20% by mass. These parameter changes optimize the solubility of the polyglycerol fatty acid ester in oil agents, preventing precipitation and turbidity while maintaining cosmetic formulation stability.
2Reliability
If unreacted polyglycerol is removed to increase solubility, then solubility to oil agent improves, but additional processing steps are required
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary action by controlling the polyglycerol structure during synthesis to inherently minimize unreacted polyglycerol content. By optimizing the branched glycerol group ratio (14-36%) and average degree of polymerization (5-22), the esterification reaction achieves high conversion efficiency, so that unreacted polyglycerol is already at low levels (2-20% by mass) before any removal step, reducing the need for additional processing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the molecular weight parameters by controlling the average degree of polymerization to be 5-22, which optimizes the balance between solubility and viscosity. This parameter change ensures that the polyglycerol fatty acid ester has adequate solubility in oil agents without requiring excessive removal of unreacted polyglycerol, thereby simplifying the overall processing while maintaining high solubility.
3Reliability
If HLB is lowered to increase solubility, then transparent solution is formed temporarily, but precipitation occurs during storage or at low temperature
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the structural parameters of polyglycerol by controlling the branched glycerol group ratio (14-36%) and average degree of polymerization (5-22), which inherently optimizes the HLB characteristics. This parameter change enables the polyglycerol fatty acid ester to achieve both high solubility in oil agents and long-term stability at low temperatures, eliminating the need to lower HLB and avoiding subsequent precipitation during storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a composite molecular structure by combining polyglycerol with specific fatty acids (6-22 carbon atoms) in controlled ratios. This composite material approach, with the polyglycerol having 14-36% branched glycerol groups and 5-22 average degree of polymerization, produces an ester that maintains stable solubility across varying temperatures and storage conditions, preventing the precipitation that would otherwise occur with HLB reduction.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The solution provides polyglycerol fatty acid esters with improved solubility in oil agents across a wide temperature range, including -5°C, maintaining stability and reducing precipitation, suitable for cosmetic applications.
Implementation Method 1
a polyglycerol which is a hydrophilic group has an appropriate branched structure, whereby the hydrophilic groups are likely to interact with each other upon forming a reverse micelle structure
Data Source
Figure 1
AI summary
A polyglycerol fatty acid ester consisting of a polyglycerol of which the ratio of a branched glycerol group represented by the following formula (1): is from 14 to 36% and an average degree of polymerization is from 5 to 22, and a fatty acid having the number of carbon atoms of from 6 to 22, wherein the total content of glycerol and diglycerol in the polyglycerol is from 2 to 20% by mass. According to the present invention, a polyglycerol fatty acid ester which is excellent in solubility to an oil agent in wide temperature range can be provided, and the polyglycerol fatty acid ester can be suitably used in an application such as cosmetics.