SBIR Phase II: Amphiphilic Copolymers as Thickening Agents for Personal Care Products

这个小企业创新研究第二阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是显着的。该项目的目的是创造新的成分，降低个人护理和化妆品的毒性。该项目将通过发明和商业化一类新的无PEG和无1，4二氧杂环己烷的聚乙二醇成分来实现这一目标。目前，含PEG的成分在其结构和功能上是高度复杂的，然而，已发现基于PEG的成分含有已知具有不良毒性特征的1，4二氧六环残留物。为了实现下一代无PEG成分，提高性能，我们将采用一种新技术，称为原子转移自由基聚合（ATRP）。ATRP已被证明是生产具有改进结构、纯度和功能的聚合物的强大方法，用于广泛的应用，包括化妆品、生物材料、家庭护理、油漆和粘合剂。然而，这种技术也被证明难以扩大到商业规模。该项目的成果不仅将改进个人护理和化妆品的增稠剂，它还将成为一个商业化工艺，以便ATRP可用于生产针对广泛细分市场具有更高性能的聚合物。该小企业创新研究第二阶段项目包括与原子转移自由基聚合（ATRP）技术进步相关的工作（特别是因为它涉及到化学工程和缩放）和对流变改性剂领域的聚合物结构和功能的理解的进步。今天，ATRP技术通常使用实验室环境中可接受的方法来实现。在这个项目中，我们将使ATRP适应可扩展的，高效的，具有成本效益的工业过程。将多步合成简化为一锅法。将优化合成后程序，以节省成本，消除有毒残留物，减少废物产生量。这项工作的结果将与他们进行显着的智力价值适用于缩放任何聚合物生产的ATRP技术。该项目还将加深对这类新型流变改性剂的结构与功能关系的理解。这些知识不仅可以使个人护理和化妆品的新的和改进的成分商业化，而且还可以为许多新产品提供新的高性能聚合物。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project is significant. The purpose of this project is to create new ingredients which reduce the toxicity profile of personal care and cosmetics products. This project will achieve this by inventing and commercializing a new class of poly(ethylene glycol) PEG-free and 1,4 dioxane-free ingredients. The current, PEG- containing ingredients are highly sophisticated in their structure and function, however, PEG-base ingredients have been found to contain 1,4 dioxane residuals which are known to have a poor toxicity profile. In order to achieve a next generation PEG-free ingredient with improved performance, we will employ a new technique called atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). ATRP has proven to be a powerful method to produce polymers with improved structure, purity and function for a broad range of applications including cosmetics, biomaterials, home care, paints and adhesives. This technique, however, has also proven to be difficult to scale to commercial volumes. The result of this project will not only be improved thickeners for personal care and cosmetics products, but, it will also be a commercial process so that ATRP can be used to produce polymers with improved performance for broad market segments.This Small Business Innovation Research Phase II project includes work relevant to both the advancement of atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) technology (especially as it related to chemical engineering and scaling) and an advancement of the understanding of polymer structure and function for the field of rheology modifiers. Today, ATRP technology is commonly implemented using methods acceptable in the laboratory setting. In this project, we will be adapting ATRP to a scalable, efficient, cost effective industrial process. Multiple-step synthesis will be simplified to a one-pot process. The post-synthesis procedures will be optimized to save costs, eliminate toxic residuals and reduce the amount of waste generated. The result of this work will be carry with them significant intellectual merits applicable to scaling any polymer produced by ATRP technology. This project will also deepen understanding of structure to function relationships for this new class of rheology modifiers. This knowledge will not only enable commercialization of new and improved ingredients for personal care and cosmetics, but, it will also enable new high performance polymers for many new products.