Multifunctional ingredients (multifunctionals) are gaining increasing attention in the cosmetics, personal care and home care industries. These are ingredients that can provide more than one functional characteristic in a formulation. Furthermore, the introduction of such ingredients early in the formulation process provides an opportunity to substitute or use other functional ingredients more efficiently as a result of synergetic effects, thus enabling the creation of more environmentally friendly and gentle products. Examples of multifunctionals, which will be presented, include poorly water-soluble amphiphilic fragrances and preservatives, such as geraniol, linalool, phenoxyethanol, which are able to lower the surface tension of aqueous solutions.
The studied amphiphilic substances, in addition to creating a certain scent, also demonstrate a high dynamic surface activity and affect the process of micelle formation of surfactants, as well as the rheological and release properties of emulsions. The introduction of these substances into the system at the early stages of the production process will improve the processes of emulsification, dispersion, solubilisation.
Another example of a multifunctional is given by an anionic polyelectrolyte – fully neutralized polyacrylic acid (PAA), which has a primary function as a binder in detergent formulations. Association behavior in a complex multicomponent system, containing ethoxylated anionic surfactants, PAA and enzymes, which possess a high efficiency to solubilize poorly water-soluble immobilized proteins is analyzed using a set of methods, including dynamic tensiometry and solubilisation assay. Unexpected attractive interactions of PAA with like-charged surfactants in the presence of multivalent cations are confirmed. Revealed novel electrostatic association mechanisms may give rise to new design approaches towards sustainable detergency.