THE EFFECT OF SOME AROMATIC CHEMICALS

AND ESSENTIAL OILS UPON THE STABILITY

OF COSMETIC EMULSIONS*

By S. A. Kauas, Sc.D.
Bronxville8, N.Y.

IN VIlE COtUSE OV several fume upon the stability of emul-

years' experiencein manufacturing sions. In emulsion literature, no
emulsions,it was found that the one, to the author'sknowledge,has
liquid emulsionsof the O/W type pointed out sufficiently the. action
behavedirregularlyregardless of the of perfume upon the stability of
rigidcontrolof all ingredientsexcept emulsions. In dealing with food
perfume. This effect could not be emulsions, Cotran (2) stated that
explainedotherwise than to blame the flavoring of mayonnaise does
the perfume. It is generallyknown not exert any effect upon the per-
that perfume is quantitatively the sistence of emulsions. Berkman
smallest item in every cosmetic and Egloff (1), however, pointed
formula, its amount usually being out that the stability of an emulsion
1 per cent or even expressedin the is determined by the coincidental
form q. s. (quantity sufficient)and action of variousfactors, such as the
is given last in the formula. Since type of dispersion, temperature,
the importanceof a good cosmetic pH values,viscosity,preservation,
emulsionis evident, even the small- electrolytes, etc. Jannaway (3),
est item of the formula should not writing on the stability of cosmetic
be overlooked in order to obtain emulsions,stated more specifically
satisfactoryresults. that all of th constituents of an
In recent years many new in- emulsionshould be carefully con-
gredientshave beenpresentedto the sidered. After this clear statement
cosmeticindustry with technically by a cosmeticspecialist, onewould
elaboratedata. However this data, expectto find somereferenceto per-
as helpful as it ig in improvingthe fume. Furthermore, the same au-
manufactureof emulsions,doesnot thor,in writingon the perfuming of
cons!der the entire specific task. toilet preparations,considersmany
For instance,none of this helpful aspectsof good cosmeticemulsions
data considersthe effect of per- but not their stability in regard to
* Preented Meeting,perfume. He 'and othersstressed
attheMay20,1949,
New York City. the irritation of the skin by per-
374
 EFFECT OF CHEMICALS ON STABILITY OF EMULSIONS 375

:i:i?i.fume,
the discc;loration
of cos- The oils used were mineral and
?'irnetics,
theirpreservation,
the last- sesame. The aromatic chemicals
;.:..,:.::
ingqualityof perfume, and other and essential oils listed below were
Ji'v:
subjects;but thereis no mention added separately to the five above
:":".::
of the actionof perfumeon the sta- emulsions. In sodoing,115 experi-
i!7)i
57bilityofemulsions. mentswere performed(21 perfum-
Let us now consider the effect of ing ingredients
addedseparatelyto
';?::!..5
thatlastbutnotleastimportantin- each of the five emulsions thus re-
517..:'
gredient
intheformula,
perfume.
It suitingin 105 experimentsand 10
555:/wasnoticed that the emulsionswere controls not perfumed). In the
.:-,..
i:'":'::
superior
whenthe perfumeingredi- dispersionof the oils, laboratory
:::,::
entswere controlledwith care. By high speedEpenbachcolloidalmills
5711ji::changing
theingredients
in com-were used.

i:i:i
i pounding
theperfume
orbyhaving
them suppliedby an outside firm, Atromatic Chemicals
theemulsions
werethusoftenren- 1. PhenylethylAlcohol
:::::i::
deredunsatisfactory.
In viewof 2. Hydroxycitronellal
"
:5. this fact, severalexperimentswere 3. Terpineol
performedwhichare outlinedin the 4. BenzylAcetate
5. Linalyl Acetate
following
discussion.
Fivedifferent 6. Geraniol
typesof emulsions
were made, and 7. Linalool
the effectsupon them of 11 aromatic 8. BenzylAlcohol
chemicals and 10 essential oils were 9. Methyl Ionone
10. AmylcinnamicAldehyde
studied. 11. Methyl Anthranilate
" In the following discussion,the 12. Controlnot perfumed
word "separation" is synonymous
with theword"breaking." Essential Oils
1. Geranium
SUMMARY OF EXPERIMENTS
2. Bergamot
To make the emulsions,the in- 3. Lavender
gredientswerethosemostcommonly 4. Orange(sweet)
usedin the cosmeticindustry. The 5. Patchouly
emulsionwas the liquid O/W type 6. Vetivert (Bourbon)
7. Sandalwood
madewith surface-activeagentsand 8. Neroli (Bigarade)
also two emulsifiers of natural ori- 9. Rose de Mai
gin, all favoring O/W emulsions. 10. Ylang Ylang
These emulsifiers were as follows: 11. Controlnot perfumed
1. Triethanolamine Stearate
Experiment_r--Emulsionswith
2. Castilesoap,powdered Triethanolamine
3. Duponol ME (sodium lauryl
sulfate) 50 gm. Triethanolamine
4. Lecithin soybeans (phospho- 150 gm. Stearic Acid (triple-
lipid) pressed)
5. Gum Arabic (pentosancolloid) 3000 cc. Distilled Water
376 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS

Thesethreeingredientsweresaponi- 5 cc. Aromatic chemicals or

essential oils
fled by bringingthe temperatureto
100C. for one hour. After this had
These ingredients were dispersed
been done, the final emulsionwas and stored as before. After one
madewith the following: day's standing with Methyl An-
300 cc. of the above solution thranilate, the oil floatedto the top;
100 cc. Mineral Oil (sp. gr. creamingoccurred,and there was a
0.845-O.855) yellow coloration. After two weeks
100 cc. Sesame Oil
5 cc. Aromatic chemicals or
the oil separatedfrom the water in
essential oils all samples. In general,soap was
foundto besatisfactoryasan emulsi-
Afterdispersion for 15minutes,each fying agentfor all syntheticchemi-
of the prepared 100-cc. emulsions cals with the exceptionof Benzyl
wasput asidefor observation.Im- Alcoholwhich destroyedthe emul-
mediateseparation wasnoticedwith sion. The soapemulsionswith the
PhenylethylAlcohol and Hydroxy- essential oils lasted for more than
citronellal. After five daysbreaking 24:hours. The controlwithout per-
occurredwith Linalool, Amyl cin- fume withstood breaking for five
namic Aidehyde, Terpineol, and days.
Methyl Ionone. In the case of
Methyl Anthranilate, discoloration ExperimentIII--Emulsions with
appeared on the topof theemulsion; Duponol
andonlyslightcreamingtookplace. 300 cc. 0.507o Duponol ME
water solution
In usingessentialoils in the same 100 cc. Mineral Oil
manner, breaking occurredin the 100 cc. Sesame Oil
followingorder: the first to separate 5 cc. Aromatic chemicals or
was Rose de Mai; second was essential oils
Geranium; third was Lavender
andSandalwood;fourthwasNeroli; After dispersion,the effectsnoted
were as follows:
and fifth was Ylang Ylang. After
fourdays,emulsions with Bergamot, In all casesthe Duponolsolution
Orange, Patchouly, and etivert produced slowbreaking. After two
did not separate. The controls hours, the sample with Hydroxy-
withoutperfumeremainedstablefor citronellal was slightly separated;
five days. and after two days, there was com-
plete separation. The experiments.
ExperiraentII--Em ulsions,with with essential oils resulted in satis- .:.
,..

Castile Soap factory stability. The emulsions

300 cc. Soap and water solu- were as stable as the control. Con-
tion (294:cc. distilled sequentlythe essentialoils did not
water and 6 gm. pow- produceany noticeableeffectupon
dered soap)
100 cc. Mineral Oil thestability
oftheDuponol
emul-
100 cc. Sesame Oil sions. .
 EFFECT OF CHEMICALS ON STABILITY OF EMULSIONS 377

?;jExperiment
Ik--Emulsions
with EXPLANATION OF TABLE 1
Lecithin
1. Emulsions with Trierhanoi-
100 cc. Mineral Oil
amine Stearate without aromatic
90 cc. SesameOil
10gin.Lecithin soybean dis- chemicalslasted five days. With
'"'.": solved at 70C. the additionof PhenylethylAlcohol,
(!!?:
' in thetwooils Hydroxycitronellal, and Geraniol,
300 cc. Distilled water
5 cc. Aromaticchemicals
or their life was short, less than one
;':':' essential
oils hour. With the remaining aro-
matic chemicals,the emulsionsstood
i'!i:i'The
emulsions
with Phenylethylfor five days. Note the shortening
AlcoholandHydroxycitronellal
were of the life of the emulsions under
superiorand lastedfor five days. the effect of the three chemicals.
i:':.Emulsionswith Linalyl Acetate, 2. The life of the emulsions with
Geraniol,Linalool,BenzylAlcohol,soap was lengthenedfrom two to
andMethyl Iononewereonly stable more than seven days by all the
for two days. Separationwas im- aromatic chemicalsexcept Benzyl
mediatewith Amyl Cinnamic Aide- Alcoholand Methyl Anthranilate.
hydeandMethylAnthranilate. The 3. The life of the Duponol emul-
emulsionwith Bergamot.lastedfive sionswas shortenedto two days in
days as long as the control. The comparisonwith four days in the
sampleswith other essential oils caseof the control. The Hydroxy-
werestableonlyfor two days. citrondial separatedthe emulsion
after two hours. The life of this
Experimentk--Emulsionswith emulsionwas shortenedto two days
Gum/irabic
with Linalyl Acetate, Geraniol,
300 cc. 5% Gum Arabic water Linalool, Benzyl Alcohol and
solution
100 cc. Mineral Oil Methyl Ionone. No effect was ob-
100 cc. Sesame Oil served with Phenylethyl Alcohol
5 cc. Aromatic chemicals or and Hydroxycitronellal.
essential oils 4. The Gum Arabic emulsions
were broken by Hydroxycitronellal
After emulsification,
immediatesep-
and BenzylAlcohol.
aration was noted with Hydroxy-
citrondialandBenzylAlcohol.Dis-
EXPLANATION OF TABLE 2
coloration occurred with Methyl
Anthranilate, and creaming was 1. The life of the Triethanolamine
observed.Amyl Cinnamic Aide- emulsions with Geranium, Laven-
hydeandMethyl Iononeseparated der, Sandalwood,and Rose de Mai
after three days. The emulsions was short, lasting only two hours.
in the controllingbottle lastedfive This is similar to the aromatic chem-
days. The essential oils did not icals of a rose character such as
causeseparationof emulsionswith PhenylethylAlcohol, and Geraniol.
Gum Arabic. 2. The soapemulsionswith most
378 JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS

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 EFFECT OF CHEMICALS ON STABILITY OF EMULSIONS 379

(.o (33 _1 o , o3 z a:
38O JOURNAL OF THE SOCIETY OF COSMETIC CHEMISTS

of the essential oils were unstablestudy the ingredientsof the perfume

contrary to those with aromatic used especially when the liquid-
chemicals. The life of the soap type emulsionis made. There is an
emulsions was shortened from two obstacle,however,in the practical
days to lessthan onehour. applicationof this recommendation
3. The emulsionswith Duponol becausethe perfumesare oftenbeing
were not affectedby the essential suppliedby outsideconcernswhich
oils under consideration. naturally considerthe composition
4. The emulsions with Lecithin of their products a trade secret.
were somewhat less stable than the Consequently thispointwill involve
control. much controversy.
5. The essential oils did not affect
the Gum Arabic emulsions. CONCLUSIONS

1. It can be stated that in most

DISCUSSION
of the experiments,both aromatic
In common practice, the com- chemicals and essential oils had a
poundfor perfumingthe emulsions varied effect on all five types of
is alwaysa mixtureof 50-75percent emulsionsby often shorteningbut
aromatic chemicalsand 25-50 per less frequently lengthening their
cent essentialoils. However, some- life.
times only one or a few aromatic 2. It seems that the rose char-
chemicals or essential oils are used. acter of both aromatic chemicals
Becauseof the variety of the char- and essential oils was destructive
acter of the perfumingingredients, to the Triethanolamine emulsions.
one ingredient may disturb the 3. Hydroxycitronellalis most de-
emulsion;the othermay tendto sta- structiveto the threetypesof emul-
bilize it with the result that emul- sions.
sionstabilityhasnot beenaffected.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
But this is a very rare coincidence
on which the technician should not (1) Betkmart,
S., andEgloff,G., "Emulsions
andFoams,"NewYork,Reinhold Pub-
count. The experiments
performed lishingCo. (1941),p. 58.
show that the matter is more com- (2) Corran,J. W., "SomeObservations
ona
TypicalFoodEmulsion,"in "Technical
plicatedbecause
of thegreatvariety Aspects
o Emulsions,"
London, A. Har-
of the emulsifiersas well as of the in- vey,1935,p.91.
gredients
ofthecosmetic
emulsions.
. (3)Perfumery
Jannaway,
S.P.,"Toilet
Essent. Preparations,"
OilRecord
(August,
The safest recommendationis to 1939).