Purpose: Cetearyl glucoside and cetearyl alcohol are an alkyl polyglucoside composition (APG) widely used in personal care as an efficient and versatile self-emulsifier. This ingredient is considered as green thanks to its vegetable origin and to its manufacturing process complying with the 12 rules of Green Chemistry. Beyond these general criteria, the rising environmental concern among consumers encourages manufacturers to provide quantifiable measures highlighting the real impacts of a product on the environment. In order to respond to this need, the aim of this work was to study, from an environmental point of view, the contribution of the use of APG in a cosmetic cream (raw materials, glucosylation process, formulation process, chemical inputs, energy, transport, waste management, end use, and recycling) and to assess several potential improvements to decrease its global impacts. Materials and methods: The methodology used was the life cycle assessment (LCA) according to the ISO 14-040 standard. Two approaches were chosen: (a) from the cultivation of vegetable raw materials to the final use by consumers and recycling (from cradle to grave) and (b) from the cultivation of vegetable raw materials to the production of APG (from cradle to gate). The two corresponding functional units were defined as follows: (a) the preparation of a cosmetic oil in water emulsion having suitable stability and allowing the face hydration of a consumer during 1 year and (b) the preparation of 1 t of packaged APG in a plant located in the South of France. To comply with these two functional units, the life cycle was divided into 4 phases (gate to gate): the agricultural and transformation phase A, the chemical process phase B, the formulation process phase C and finally the end use phase D. The life cycle inventory data collected were based either on bibliographical sources or on direct industrial data. Seven impact categories were selected for their relevance (ozone depletion, global warming, mineral resources, petrochemical resources, eco-toxicity, acidification/eutrophication, and water consumption). For each significant environmental impact, sensitivity assessments were carried out to identify potential improvements regarding the two functional units. Results and discussion: The results show that the formulation process phase C and the end use phase D are the main key issues of the cosmetic cream life cycle. Their respective environmental contributions are between 15 and 51% and between 30 and 77% depending on the impact category. Regarding the formulation step, the two most contributing parameters are the emulsion oil and the cream packaging. The impacts of oil are directly linked to the quantity involved (20% in the cream) and also to the cultivation conditions of the plant from which the oil is extracted. A sensitivity study on the nature of the packaging highlights that glass is much better than PET. As far as the end use of the cream is concerned, the main impacting parameter is the purchasing by the consumer (between 33 a...

The aim of this work was to develop new sugar nonionic surfactants from raw materials of plant origin. These nonionic surfactants are based on the noncovalent association between cyclodextrins (CDs) and fatty alcohols or fatty acids. We describe here (i) the preparation of various complexes between β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) and fatty alcohols or fatty acids, (ii) the evaluation of the surfactive properties of the complexes, and (iii) the structure of one of them which presents interesting surfactive properties. Among the prepared complexes, the β-CD/alcohol complexes present high surface tension efficiencies compared with β-CD/acid complexes. The surfactive properties of the β-CD/alcohol complexes are influenced by the length of the hydrocarbon chain and reach an excellent efficiency for guests having 10-12 carbon atoms. For the complex between β-cyclodextrin and undec-10-en-1-ol, the inclusion mode in aqueous solution was described by nuclear magnetic resonance techniques. The results showed a 1:1 stoichiometry and a dynamic process exchanging the two possible orientations of the guest relative to the β-CD.