IMAGINE...

The ability to create any functionality, texture, or aesthetic across all of Personal
Care and Beauty with a single, naturally derived chemistry that addresses the envi-
ronmental concerns of your greenest consumers.

INTRODUCING…
SYNETH™ by Lonza

A range of extremely versatile, non-ionic emulsifiers and surfactants, based on a

unique and customizable polyglycerol ester chemistry, to help formulators strike
the perfect balance between functionality,
aesthetics, and mildness.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

Personal Care – SYNETH™
INNOVATION IN THE MODERN AGE
 
In today’s world dominated by social media and the ever increasing shar-
ing of information by bloggers, vloggers, and peer-to-peer social net-
works, consumers of Beauty and Personal Care products are better in-
formed than ever. Not only are they increasingly aware of the latest
trends in product functionality, forms, and textures, but also about the
effect of those products, and the ingredients they contain, on the envi-
ronment and their bodies.

At the very same time, innovation in the Beauty space is no longer driv-
en by billion dollar brands relying on limitless R&D resources, but by
much smaller, more nimble and agile players, often from different parts
of the world than before, such as South East Asia and South America.
These companies are able to deliver more compelling innovation at a
breathtaking pace and reach out virtually instantly to billions of connected
consumers.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

THE FORMULATOR’S
DILEMMA

These trends, which will only intensify,

present formulators with enormous chal-
lenges. How can they keep up with con-
sumers’ demands for innovative products,
respond to pressure from management to
bring new products to market in months
rather than years, while addressing con-
sumers’ concerns about their long-term
health and that of the environment? No
longer can they rely on “tried and true”
technologies, such as ethoxylated, sulfate,
and silicone based chemistries, while al-
ternative chemistries with better mildness
and environmental profiles force them to
compromise on performance, aesthetics,
and formula stability.

SYNETH™: FORMULATING
WITHOUT COMPROMISE

Lonza designed its SYNETH™ range

of polyglycerol esters specifically to help
formulators in the Cosmetic and Personal
Care space of today and tomorrow cir-
cumvent the apparent paradox of speak-
ing to consumers’ desire to care for their
bodies and the environment while meet-
ing their demands for innovative, luxu-
rious products… all of this based on a
single, versatile, and customizable chem-
istry for better formulation efficiency and
speed to market.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

SYNETH™ POLYGLYCEROL ESTERS: NON-IONIC,
VERSATILE, AND CUSTOMIZABLE CHEMISTRY
All ingredients within the SYNETH™ range are based on the same core polyglycerol ester chemistry
and possess the same basic chemical structure comprising a hydrophilic polyglycerol head group that
is connected via an ester linkage to one or more aliphatic side chains representing the hydrophobic
part of the molecule.

Each SYNETH™ is produced by etherification of glycerol to form polyglycerol, followed by the

esterification of polyglycerol with the corresponding fatty acid, with all starting materials coming
from plant origin. Varying the nature of the fatty acid and the reaction conditions results in a com-
pletely customizable chemistry in terms of the number of glycerol units in the polar head group as
well as the nature and number of aliphatic side chains. This allows us to offer a complete range of
emulsifiers/surfactants spanning a broad range of HLB values and emulsification characteristics, and
covering virtually all applications in Cosmetics and Personal Care.

This schematic shows the current SYNETH™ range of polyglycerol esters according to their HLB value along with
a schematic representation of their chemical structure. Each SYNETH™ is named with the letter corresponding to
the nature of the aliphatic side chain (e.g. O = Oleate) and the number corresponding to its HLB value.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

TECHNICAL
CHARACTERIZATION
& APPLICATION
DEVELOPMENT
In order to highlight the unique
properties, benefits, and breadth
of applications of the SYNETH™
range, Lonza has conducted a com-
prehensive technical characteriza-
tion study of all different polyglyc-
erol esters in the range. We also
created a comprehensive formula-
tion library, with samples available
upon request, spanning a wide range
of applications and textures across
Beauty and Personal Care. The re-
sults of this effort, which aims to
provide practical guidance to for-
mulators, are detailed in Technical
Data Sheets for each SYNETH™
polyglycerol ester. Here however,
we want to speak to the collective
benefits of the entire range. Final-
ly, it should be noted that although
each SYNETH™ polyglycerol es-
ter carries unique properties of its
own, additional synergistic benefits
can be achieved by using them in
combination, which are also high-
lighted in the individual Data Sheets.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

 SYNETH™ AT A GLANCE

Categories Features
Cold-process emulsification

Contributes to emulsion

ECOCERT / COSMOS

Sprayable formulations
Oil-in-water systems

Water-in-oil systems
Rheology enhancer
Plant-based
Non-ionic
Emulsifier
Hair care

Skin care

stability

Trade name
SYNETH™ S8 K RSPO MB Pastille*
SYNETH™ C15 K RSPO MB
SYNETH™ L15 K RSPO MB*¹
SYNETH™ O13 K RSPO MB*
SYNETH™ P11 K RSPO MB Pastille
SYNETH™ S10 K RSPO MB Pastille*
SYNETH™ O3*¹

* China Compliant
*1
Made-to-order product. Please contact your Lonza representative for availability

Personal Care – SYNETH™

VERSATILITY
The range of SYNETH™ polyglycerol esters offer formulators with a complete tool kit
of emulsifiers and surfactants to provide the basis for virtually any application, product
form, or texture across all categories in Beauty and Personal Care, ranging from rich,
luxurious creams to foaming cleansers. Lonza has created a library of compelling, on-
trend formulations as examples of the many types of leave-on and rinse-off applica-
tions across Skin, Hair, and Scalp Care, while additional formulations in Deodorants,
Oral Care, and Color Cosmetics are in development or planning.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

MILDNESS & MOISTURIZATION
Consumers of personal care and beauty products are increasingly aware, through either education or personal experi-
ence, of the irritation potential of these products with skin, scalp, and eye irritation being primary concerns for both
rinse-off and leave-on products. In addition, as much as 50% of the global population claim to suffer from sensitive
skin, making them especially inquisitive of the irritation potential of cosmetic ingredients with emulsifiers, surfactants,
fragrances, and preservatives receiving particular scrutiny.

When it comes to skin irritation, ionic surfactants, and particularly sulfate based surfactants such as Sodium Dodecyl
Sulfate (SDS), are well known “bad actors” because of their ability to bind to structural and functional skin proteins
and dissolve lipids critical to the skin barrier. Because their non-ionic nature, SYNETH™ polyglycerol esters show
excellent mildness on both skin and eyes, making them ideal for any personal care application, but particularly for use
in products aiming to be suitable for sensitive skin or infants and children.

While superior mildness is a major advantage of any surfactant or emulsifier, SYNETH™ polyglycerol esters go a
step further by providing active moisturization benefits. Key to this is the polyglycerol nature of the polar head group,
with glycerol being well known for its excellent humectant properties.

These results from an in vitro MatTek™

Irritation Study comparing SYNETH™
C15 with various benchmark surfactants,
highlight the superior mildness of Lonza’s
SYNETH™ range of polyglycerol esters.
Additional data is available that demon-
strate mildness to eyes as well as skin bar-
rier enhancing benefits.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

ENVIRONMENTAL PROFILE
With consumers increasingly being concerned, not naturally derived from plant origin and in order to meet the
only about their own health but also about the health needs of both customers and consumers globally is fully
of the planet, the impact of cosmetic ingredients on compliant with the following criteria and standards:
the environment and associated certifications no lon-
ger are of concern to a small group of environmentally – Naturally derived from plant origin
aware consumers but are now firmly part of the main- – Non-PGE
stream. At the same time, cosmetic products are being – EO, PO, and 1,4-dioxane free
used by more and more consumers globally, bringing – Kosher, Halal, Vegan
about the need to comply with religious certifications – RSPO MB
such as Kosher and Halal. – Non-GMO
– COSMOS
The SYNETH™ range of polyglycerol esters is – ISO 16128-1

Personal Care – SYNETH™

PERFORMANCE
 
Mildness and environmental compliance, although high-
ly desirable, are often considered to come at the expense
of product performance and aesthetics. The SYNETH™
range of polyglycerol esters present an extremely welcome
exception to this rule, both to mainstream product manu-
facturers who want to appeal to a broader range of con-
sumers and natural brands who are struggling with offering
acceptable performance and aesthetics.

An excellent illustration of this point is SYNETH™ poly-

glycerol esters’ ability to provide cleansing performance and
foaming characteristics previously considered impossible
from a non-ionic surfactant. SYNETH™ polyglycerol es-
ters exhibit characteristically low surface tension and criti-
cal micellar concentration (CMC) making them particularly
effective at oil removal and ideal for applications in facial-
cleansers and make-up removal wipes.

SYNETH™ C15 has highly desir-

able foaming characteristics as an
excellent flash foamer that creates
dense, luxurious, and long-lasting
foams. This is the result of an ide-
al balance between speed and effi-
ciency of foam generation.

TEXTURE & AESTHETICS

SYNETH™ polyglycerol esters also provide formu-
lators with the opportunity to provide excellent aes-
thetics and innovative textures for leave-on systems
without having to resort to silicone-based ingredi-
ents that have come under great environmental and
regulatory scrutiny. Lonza’s SYNETH™ based for-
mulation database contains many examples of (o/w)
emulsions that approach the luxurious skin feel of
(w/Si) emulsions or (o/w) emulsions containing sil-
icone based aesthetic enhancers. Samples of these
formulations, as well as all others, will be available
individually or as a complete “kit,” at trade shows or
upon request.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

PROCESSABILITY & FORMULATION EFFICENCY
With increasing emphasis on “speed-to-market” to respond to trends that develop faster and faster, formulators are
under immense pressure to develop and scale up formulations faster with fewer resources than ever before.

Lonza’s SYNETH™ range of polyglycerol esters can help formulators in a number of ways:

– First, being able to rely on a single chemistry for an immensely broad range of applications with a large
set of high-quality and relevant data available will help cut product development time and improve for-
mulation efficiency.

– Second, all SYNETH™ polyglycerol esters are either cold processable or can be processed at low tem-
peratures, which both facilitates and speeds up lab batch preparation and scale-up.

– Third, SYNETH™ range of polyglycerol esters are highly multi-functional, offering excellent formula
functionality, stability, and rheology control while providing additional moisturization benefits, allowing
formulators to simplify formulations without compromising on aesthetics and performance.

– Finally, Lonza plans to offer SYNETH™ polyglycerol ester based formulation chassis to further cut
formulation time as well as trend-sensitive fully formulated solutions complete with claim support data
packages.

Personal Care – SYNETH™

 Switzerland USA
Lonza Ltd Lonza Home & Personal Care
Muenchensteinerstrasse 38 412 Mt Kemble Ave Suite 200S
4002 Basel Morristown, NJ 07960
Tel +41 61 316 81 11 Tel +1 862 213 1700

Review and follow all product safety instructions. All pro-

duct information corresponds to Lonza’s knowledge on the
subject at the date of publication, but Lonza makes no war-
ranty as to its accuracy or completeness and Lonza assumes
no obligation to update it. Product information is intended
for use by recipients experienced and knowledgeable in the
field, who are capable of and responsible for independently
determining the suitability of ingredients for intended uses
and to ensure their compliance with applicable law. Proper
use of this information is the sole responsibility of the re-
cipient. This information relates solely to the product as an
ingredient. It may not be applicable, complete or suitable
for the recipient’s finished product or application; therefore
republication of such information or related statements is
prohibited. Information provided by Lonza is not intended
and should not be construed as a license to operate under or
a recommendation to infringe any patent or other intellectu-
al property right. No claims are made herein for any specific
intermediate or end-use application.

© 2019 Lonza

www.lonza.com
www.lonza.com /personalcare

Personal Care – SYNETH™