P2 Science launches a first personal care and cosmetics ingredient
“The commercial introduction of this product range is the culmination of many years of work on a lab and pilot plant stage, following the inventive breakthrough made by our team in Woodbridge,” says Patrick Foley, Chief Science Officer at P2, in a media release issued late last week.
Woodbridge is Woodbridge, Connecticut, where the P2 Science chemical company headquarters are located. The first P2 manufacturing plant is in nearby Naugatuck, Connecticut.
For company CEO Neil Burns, the official launch of the Cirtopol ingredient line is not only the company's debut in the beauty ingredient marketplace, but also an opportunity to share the company’s back story with the cosmetics and personal care industry at large: “Not many people know that our roots go back to the Yale School of Forestry where our co-founder, Paul Anastas, holds a professorship,” Burns tells the press. “We are therefore really pleased,” he says, “to be able to introduce a product line derived from forestry feed-stocks.”
P2 Science is making emollients from terpenes
And those terpenes are derived from renewable forestry inputs. Citropol 1A is the first ingredient in the P2 Citropol line. What will eventually be a line of several emollients for now comprises a single liquid polymer of low molecular weight that, according to the P2 media release, is comparable to if not better than silicone in formulation.
“Citropol 1A imparts distinct lubricating properties when used as low as 1% in skin or hair formulations,” states the release. “The result is a slippery, silky formulation that does not compromise human [or] environmental safety. Citropol 1A is compatible in cosmetics, skin care, hair care, fragrance, deodorizing and moisturizing applications.”
P2 Science has secured financial backing from pivotal investors
In January, the chemical maker raised a series C financing round amounting to $12m, thanks to investors including HG Ventures, Chanel, BASF Venture Capital, Xeraya Capital, Elm Street Ventures, Connecticut Innovations, and Ironwood Capital Connecticut.
“This new financing enables P2 to accelerate execution of our mission to bring sustainable chemistry to market and thereby enable value creation and innovation for our customers in F&F, Cosmetics and other consumer specialties,” said Burns at the time. And he wasn’t talking about just the Citropol line.
He noted that the new funding enabled the company to add "state of the art aroma distillation capability as well as an expanded capacity for the production of novel renewable cosmetics ingredients based on patented processes and intensified flow technology.”
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Deanna Utroske is a leading voice in the cosmetics and personal care industry as well as in the indie beauty movement. As Editor of CosmeticsDesign.com, she writes daily news about the business of beauty in the Americas region and regularly produces video interviews with cosmetics, fragrance, personal care, and packaging experts as well as with indie brand founders.
