Biodegradable cationic polymers

Background

Cationic polymers play an important role of delivering actives in cleansing products. Mechanism of active delivery or deposition include coacervation (complex interaction between cationic polymers with anionic surfactants), adsorption, film formation, and aggregation on surfaces. In addition, it is necessary to have cationic polymers in cleansing products that not only provide breakthrough performance but are also biodegradable.

Most of the current cationic polymer materials in cleansing products have limited or slow biodegradability. There is a need to find highly biodegradable polymers that also provide breakthrough performance including deposition of actives and conditioning.

What we're looking for: 

We are looking for highly biodegradable cationic polymers that demonstrate breakthrough deposition and delivery of active ingredients on diverse surfaces, including materials currently under development and not limited to those commercially available. We also welcome proposals on biodegradable cationic polymer manufacturing processes. Proposals should outline how the solution could be pilot tested.

Must-have requirements are:

• Materials should enable deposition on hydrophobic and hydrophilic surfaces.
• Materials should be available in at least gram-scale quantities with line-of-sight to larger-scale production for near term R&D usage (kg scale) and eventual full production scale (ton scale)
• Preliminary biodegradability data on a method that can be linked to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) biodegradability method or a clear rationale indicating the polymer is highly biodegradable

Nice-to-have requirements are:

• Materials should be either readily biodegradable (majority of the polymer degrades within 28 days) or exhibit intermediate biodegradability (partial degradation within 28 days), as defined by controlled test methods outlined by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

Please note: Faculty and researchers interested in applying for these opportunities based on technologies developed or disclosed at Vanderbilt must submit their proposals through the CTTC.