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

这项小型企业创新研究第二期项目的广泛影响/商业潜力是显著的。该项目的目的是创造新的成分，以减少个人护理和化妆品的毒性。该项目将通过发明和商业化一种新型的不含聚乙二醇和不含1,4二恶烷的原料来实现这一目标。目前，含聚乙二醇的成分在结构和功能上都非常复杂，然而，聚乙二醇基成分中含有1,4二氧六环残留物，已知其毒性较差。为了获得性能更好的下一代无聚乙二醇原料，我们将采用一种称为原子转移自由基聚合（ATRP）的新技术。ATRP已被证明是一种强大的方法，可以生产具有改进结构，纯度和功能的聚合物，用于化妆品，生物材料，家庭护理，油漆和粘合剂等广泛应用。然而，这种技术也被证明很难扩展到商业规模。该项目的结果不仅是改善个人护理和化妆品产品的增稠剂，而且还将是一个商业过程，以便ATRP可用于生产具有改善性能的聚合物，用于广泛的细分市场。这个小型企业创新研究二期项目包括与原子转移自由基聚合（ATRP）技术的进步（特别是与化学工程和结垢有关）和对聚合物结构和流变改性剂领域功能的理解的进步相关的工作。如今，ATRP技术通常采用实验室环境中可接受的方法来实施。在这个项目中，我们将使ATRP适应可扩展、高效、经济的工业流程。多步合成将被简化为一个锅的过程。合成后的程序将进行优化，以节省成本，消除有毒残留物，减少废物的产生。这项工作的结果将具有重要的知识价值，适用于缩放任何由ATRP技术生产的聚合物。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。这些知识不仅将使个人护理和化妆品的新成分和改进成分商业化，而且还将使许多新产品的新型高性能聚合物成为可能。

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.