Cosmetics in Chemistry

Table of Content

The History of Cosmetics. When is comes to ‘Cosmetic chemistry’ I think about …. what it is made up of: colour, preservatives, natural ingredients and what is best for the consumer. The latest edition of the Cosmetics Toiletries and Fragrance Association (CTFA) Dictionary lists more than 10,000 raw materials. Every year, hundreds of new ingredients are added to the list of those that have been used for centuries. Some materials used today can be traced to 11,000 B. C. E. in the animal drawings from the caves of Altimira.

The usual cosmetics include: Make up, skincare products, sunscreen, soaps and fragrances’ etc more recently is cosmetic surgery e. g botox injected into the skin. As long as society continues to puts a huge emphasis on physical appearance, cosmetic chemistry will continue to bloom. THE DISCOVERY ITSELF Cosmetics have been found in early history and even from the Old Testament in the bible. As early as 10,000 BCE, men and women used scented oils and ointments to clean and soften their skin and mask body odor. Dyes and paints were used to color the skin, body and hair.

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They rouged their lips and cheeks, stained their nails with henna, and lined their eyes and eyebrows heavily with kohl. Kohl was a dark-colored powder made of crushed antimony, burnt almonds, lead, oxidized copper, ochre, ash, malachite, chrysocolla (a blue-green copper ore) or any combination thereof. (Cohen) It was applied with a small stick. The upper and lower eyelids were painted in a line that extended to the sides of the face for an almond looking effect. The appearance of skin care formulation dates to around 3000 B. C. E. in ancient Egypt.

Most concoctions were prepared from natural materials. Cleopatra is said to have bathed in donkeys’ milk to keep her skin smooth and supple. One naturally occurring material used by the ancients was red ochre, or iron oxide. Lumps of red ore were formed when iron oxidized or rusted. The red iron oxide was found in burial tombs in ceremonial lip tints and rouge preparations. It was also used to draw the ancient cave pictures of animals, as seen in Altimira, and is still used in many makeup formulations Figure 1. Phosphatidylcholine

Antioxidants came to public eye in the 1990s, when scientists began to understand that free radical damage was involved in the early stages of artery-clogging atherosclerosis and may contribute to cancer, vision loss, and a host of other chronic conditions. Some studies showed that people with low intakes of antioxidant-rich fruits and vegetables were at greater risk for developing these chronic conditions than were people who ate plenty of these fruits and vegetables. Clinical trials began testing the impact of single substances, especially beta-carotene and vitamin E, as used to reduce the occurrence of heart disease, cancer, etc.

THE CHEMISTRY OF COSMETICS Chemistry is used in cosmetics for: colour – To produce the rainbow of shades on today’s makeup racks, chemists derive dyes and pigments from a variety of compounds. Coal tar, chromium oxide, aluminium powder, manganese, iron oxide, and mica flakes are just a few examples of mineral ingredients that cosmetic chemists use to add colour to the consumers’ faces. Other pigments and dyes, such as beet powder, come from plants. Those derived from animals include carmine, a crimson pigment made from the ground-up, dried bodies of a cacti-eating bug called the cochineal insect.

Chemistry is used in cosmetics for: bases – The type of base used depends on where the product is supposed to be applied. For example, in lipsticks, about half the weight of the product is accounted for by a thick, insoluble mixture of waxes and castor bean oil that will not dissolve when a woman licks her lips or drinks a beverage. A lipstick base must balance the properties of the oil ingredients with those of wax. The oil in the lipstick makes it viscous (thick and sticky), so that the color clings to the lips.

The waxes are thixotropic (becoming fluid only when stirred), so that the lipstick retains its shape and doesn’t smear or melt in heat. Relative newcomers to the ranks of makeup ingredients are sunscreens, which filter out most of the sun’s burning rays. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, many makeup manufacturers added sunscreens to their products in response to consumer concerns about skin cancer and other skin-damaging effects of excessive sun. Compounds that screen out harmful ultraviolet B light include para-aminobenzoic acid (PABA) and its derivatives, as well as benzophenones such as oxybenzone and dioxybenzone

An example of what the chemistry in a certain product is botox (botulinum toxin) The discovery of Benzoyl peroxide (used in many acne treatments) was the first organic peroxide prepared by intentional synthesis. Benzoyl peroxide works as a peeling agent. Benzoyl peroxide acts as an antiseptic when applied to the skin It increases skin turnover, clearing pores and reducing the bacterial count. Other common uses for benzoyl peroxide include dyeing hair, and as an active ingredient in teeth whitening systems. It is also used in the preparation of flour.

Benzoyl Peroxide is a very strong chemical, and is only supposed to be used in extreme cases of acne problems. It has many side effects like drying out most skin types, and in some cases excessive dryness and flaking. “BP has been linked to cancer for a number of years and many research journal entries state benzoyl peroxide is a free radical-generating skin tumor promoting agent”- http://www. skintactix. com/benzoyl_peroxide_skin_damage. htm The body’s trillion or so cells face many threats, from lack of food to infection with a virus.

Another constant threat comes from nasty chemicals called free radicals. Free radicals come in many shapes, sizes, and chemical configurations. What they all share is a voracious appetite for electrons, stealing them from any nearby substances that will yield them. This electron theft can radically alter the “loser’s” structure or function. Free radical damage can change the instructions coded in a strand of DNA. It can make a circulating low-density lipoprotein (LDL, sometimes called bad cholesterol) molecule more likely to get trapped in an artery wall.

Or it can alter a cell’s membrane, changing the flow of what enters the cell and what leaves it. There are hundreds, probably thousands, of different substances that can act as antioxidants. THE CHEMISTRY OF THE PROCESS BY WHICH THE MATERIAL WAS DEVELOPED Example 1 : The most common colouring agents in makeup are the coal tar colours. Coal tar is a sticky, black liquid produced by heating a kind of coal, called bituminous coal, in large ovens from where there is no air. Coal tar colours are formed from ring-shaped carbon- and hydrogen-containing compounds called aromatic hydrocarbons, which are purified from coal tar.

Coal tar colors are the only makeup ingredients the FDA requires to undergo safety testing for every product batch – because many of the compounds have been shown to cause cancer when they are injected into the skin of mice. Benzoyl Peroxide prepared by treating benzoyl chloride with barium peroxide, a reaction that follows this stoichiometry: 2 C6H5C(O)Cl + BaO2 > [C6H5C(O)]2O2 + BaCl2 Benzoyl peroxide is usually prepared by treating hydrogen peroxide with benzoyl chloride. The oxygen-oxygen bond in peroxides is weak.

Thus benzoyl peroxide readily undergoes homolysis (symmetrical fission), forming free radicals: C6H5C(O)]2O2 > 2 C6H5CO2 THE USEFULNESS OF THE CHOSEN MATERIAL TO SOCIETY The cosmetic industry is continuing to improve their products’. Not only for earning money but also for new research for health and safety for people e. g. cancer. Women are always looking for ways to beautify themselves. The cosmetic industry is only going to get bigger as women are putting more importance on outward appearance. The cosmetic industry influences what we eat e. g blueberries for anti oxidants, put on our face e. make up s and much more. Bibliography!!! 24th September Read more: Cosmetic Chemistry – Chemistry Encyclopedia – structure, water, examples, metal, number, salt, molecule, History, Emulsions http://www. chemistryexplained. com/Co-Di/Cosmetic-Chemistry. html#b#ixzz27NJXJ6PC 24th September http://www. 3dchem. com/moremolecules. asp? ID=426&othername=Botox# http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Botulinum_toxin http://www. rcsb. org/pdb/explore. do? structureId=3BTA 24th September http://www. rcsb. org/pdb/explore. do? structureId=3BTA (not useful) 24th September http://chemistry. about. om/od/howthingsworkfaqs/f/sunscreen. htm 5th October 23rd october http://www. cyonic-nemeton. com/Cosmetics. html http://science. howstuffworks. com/the-chemistry-of-cosmetics-info. htm http://www. ariellabs. com/enews/january2011. html http://www. news-medical. net/health/What-are-Antioxidants. aspx http://www. hsph. harvard. edu/nutritionsource/what-should-you-eat/antioxidants/ http://www. livestrong. com/article/196231-how-does-benzoyl-peroxide-work-on-acne/ http://www. highonhealth. org/do-not-use-benzoyl-peroxide-to-treat-your-acne/ http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Benzoyl_peroxide

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