COSMETICS & PERSONAL CARE
78 % respectively, while DPPH testing indicated that esterification did not eliminate the parent compound’ s radical-quenching activity. These figures support a central argument of the article: enzymes can modify the formulation behaviour of a plant-derived antioxidant without necessarily rebuilding or destroying its chemically active core.
The manufacture of α-arbutin demonstrates that enzymatic functionalisation is already capable of reaching industrially relevant scale. In one whole-cell process, an amylosucrase transferred glucose from sucrose to hydroquinone with approximately 95 % molar conversion.
Laboratory reactions produced 540 – 546 mM α-arbutin, or approximately 147 – 149 g / L, within 13 – 18 hours. Scale-up to a 5,000 L reactor produced 102 – 108 g / L at 94 – 95 % conversion, with reported product purity above 99 %. The process also showed why biocatalysis must be treated as chemical manufacturing rather than as a simple biological reaction: glucose accumulation of 0.6 – 1.0 M inhibited glycosylation by 46 – 60 %, requiring controlled substrate feeding to maintain productivity.
Batch to continuous
While many enzymatic reactions are first developed in batch reactors, commercial production increasingly relies on continuous manufacturing to improve efficiency, consistency and scalability. Batch processes remain valuable during early development because reaction conditions— including enzyme loading, pH, temperature and solvent composition— can be rapidly optimised. However, repeated catalyst replacement, downtime between batches and variable product quality can limit manufacturing efficiency at larger scales.
One of the key advances enabling industrial biocatalysis has been enzyme immobilisation. By attaching enzymes to solid supports such as polymeric resins, silica, chitosan or agarose, the catalyst can be recovered and reused over multiple reaction cycles while often exhibiting improved thermal and operational stability. Immobilised enzymes also simplify downstream purification, as the catalyst remains physically separated from the product mixture. These immobilised systems can then be incorporated into continuousflow reactors, where substrates are continuously pumped through a column containing the enzyme. Compared with traditional batch processing, continuous manufacturing offers improved process control, higher productivity and more consistent product quality while reducing waste and enzyme consumption. As enzyme engineering and reactor design continue to advance, continuous biocatalysis is becoming an increasingly attractive manufacturing strategy for producing high-value cosmetic ingredients at commercial scale.
Future ingredient discovery
The cosmetic industry is entering a transition from ingredient discovery through extraction to ingredient design through biocatalysis. Rather than relying on the compounds naturally present in botanical extracts, manufacturers are increasingly able to tailor molecular structures to achieve specific physicochemical and
biological properties. By selectively modifying naturally occurring scaffolds, enzymes provide access to ingredients with improved solubility, stability, bioavailability and formulation compatibility while maintaining its plant-derived origin.
At the same time, improvements in immobilisation technologies and continuous manufacturing are making enzymatic processes increasingly practical for large-scale production. These developments are shifting biocatalysis from a niche research tool to an industrial manufacturing platform capable of producing next-generation speciality ingredients.
Future innovation will depend not only on identifying new botanical resources but also on unlocking the full chemical potential of those resources. Plants should be considered not simply as collections of naturally occurring ingredients, but as renewable reservoirs of molecular building blocks. Enzymes provide the precision needed to transform these building blocks into novel functional materials, opening new opportunities for cosmetic science and specialty chemical manufacturing. ●
References: 1: M. D. Kim et al., AMB Express, 2019, 9, 63. 2: M. Martínez-García et al., Antioxidants, 2024, 13, 1368.
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Katie Liu
FOUNDER
TERA katie @ tera. inc www. tera. inc
62 SPECIALITY CHEMICALS MAGAZINE ESTABLISHED 1981