NewsCosmetics

Weighing and Analysis in the Laboratory

9

R&D and testing laboratories dealing with cosmetics are often faced with

‘problem liquids’, which may be difficult or impossible to pipette. These

liquids can be viscous, volatile or show high densities. The Pos-D™

(Positive Displacement Piprtte) from RAININ resolves problems caused

by such liquids.

Accurate Transferof Problem Liquids

Challenges in Liquid HandlingWhen an air-displacement pipette is used with viscous or volatile solutions, the air space between the sample and the piston cannot correctly equalize the pressure. This means that the aspiration strength is reduced, therefore preventing proper pipetting.

Pos-D™ for Viscous or Volatile LiquidsThe Pos-D™ is especially suited for liquids with high densities, viscosities or vapor pressures. A disposable piston, moving within a plastic capillary makes

direct contact with the liquid. The positive wiping action of the position against the capillary wall assures complete dispens-ing without droplets and protects samples from instrument contamination.

Ergonomic Pipetting with Visible Volume SettingLike all RAININ pipettes, the Pos-D™ is impressive due to its ergonomic design. The larger, more ergonomically-designed handle of Pos-D™ feels natural and fits comfortably in the hand and the ergo-nomic finger hook eliminates the need to grip.

2 METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

Publisher Mettler-Toledo AG Laboratory Division Im Langacher CH-8606 Greifensee, Switzerland

Production Segment Marketing LABSwitzerland

11794478 40.12

Subject to technical changes. © Mettler-Toledo AG 02/09Printed in Switzerland.

RAIN

IN

} www.mt.com/Pos-D} www.mt.com/Pipetting360

Perfect Performance ServicesComprehensive service range includ-ing maintenance, calibration, training, quality control and improvement pro-cesses.

BioClean Tips: 100% contamination-free tips with application specific designs• Aerosol-resistant filter tips: avoiding

cross-contamination.• GelWell: for gels and narrow wells.

Pipet-Lite Adjustable Spacer: Adjustable from 19 mm down to 9 mm, to speed up the transferal of viscous liquids from one format to another.

Pos-D™ is ideal for• viscous samples: no more precision

sacrifices, just accurate pipetting.• solvents: no more dripping or evap-

oration issues.• PCR and biological protocols: no

contamination risks.

Meeting Demands in Pipetting with Problem LiquidsThe Pos-D™ is part of the RAININ Pipetting 360° solution, which provides a series of integrated products and services that improve workflow in the transferal of difficult liquids.

�METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

Refra

ctom

etry Birth of Crystal Bright Cosmetics

Perfect Control by Refractometer

It is a growing and popular trend that cosmetic products such as lip

glosses, eye shadows and body creams give a shimmering effect. To

achieve this, refractive index control is an important factors. At L’ORÉAL

Suzhou branch in China, they understand the importance of refractive

index control in cosmetics and have successfully achieved this by unit-

izing a METTLER TOLEDO Refractometer.

Refractive Index is CrucialOily raw materials are some of the key in-gredients added to cosmetics and refrac-tive index is an important factor in the quality control of these. As different oily materials have different refractive index-es, re-mixing them in right proportions can improve the brightness and trans-parency of an emulsified substance and, therefore, realize the desired ‘healthy glow’ effect.

Excellent Refractive Index Measurement To better control the quality of oily raw materials and develop new formulas, QC engineers in L’ORÉAL need to perform a high quantity of raw materials and semi-finished samples tests. Previous lab chal-lenges included a long measuring time, low efficiency with unsatisfactory results and difficult temperature control. Fur-thermore, during the sample-cleaning process, a large amount of organic de-tergent was used which imposed adverse health risks to the operators.

METTLER TOLEDO’s specialist under-stood these problems and proposed the RE40 Refractometer and SC1 Single Sample Automation. RE40 uses a ’Total Reflection’ method to measure refrac-tive index. Samples are not restricted by color. No matter how dark the color is, the samples can be accurately measured with a precision of up to 4 digits. RE40’s built-in Peltire electronic constant tem-perature control device can precisely control temperatures to 0.1 °C so that re-

liable data and results can be obtained. The SC1 single sample handles samples automatically and, therefore, efficiency is greatly improved. The SC1 also has an automatic cleaning function – with very little detergent – and cleans the test tube in the sealed pipeline system which is environmental friendly and protects the operator’s health.

In addition, SC1 has a patented auto-matic error detection, which can be used to check, prior to testing, if the system is polluted from any residues of previous samples or detergents. All the data and reports can be printed and documented in order to comply to GLP.

L'ORÉAL’s Suzhou has been using this in-strument for more than 10 years. “We are particularly satisfied with the ease of use and precise results we get,” praise the lab manager, Ms. Tang Yalian and the lab technicians.

} www.mt.com/refractometry

Lab manager of L'ORÉAL, Ms. Tang Yalian, and the lab.

RE40 Refractometer and SCI Single Sample Automation

4

DSC

METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

A Simple Method forCharacterizing Vegetable Oils

Advanced technology and increased global interest in ‘natural’ cosmetics

have made vegetable oils ideal as raw materials for the production of a

range of modern cosmetic products. DSC is an excellent method used

to characterize the different types of oil samples in research, product

development and quality control.

Green PowerThere is a wide range of different veg-etable oils each with their own individual properties and suitability for cosmetic products. Oils of vegetable origin widely used in applications for skin care, body care and hair care preparations include olive oil, jojoba oil, macadamia nut oil and fractionated coconut oil. Vegetable oils, also known as carrier or base oils (or fats, depending on their consistency) are plant constituents obtained from the seeds or fruit pulp by pressing and/or sol-vent extraction followed by evaporation of the solvent. Vegetable oils also mainly consist of triglycerides. In natural oils, triglycerides contain many different fatty acids. Natural oil is therefore always a mixture of different triglycerides.

The crystallization behavior of an oil or fat is very sensitive to its composition and can easily be measured by differen-tial scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC curve obtained from an oil sample is characteristic of the particular oil and serves as a ‘fingerprint’.

Crystallization Behavior of Vegetable Oils The DSC cooling curves shown in Figure 1 were measured using the DSC 1 equipped with an IntraCooler and evaluated using the STARe software.

Figure 1 shows typical DSC cooling curves of different cold-pressed native vegetable oils with several crystallization peaks present. As the oils cool, various com-ponents crystallize out at characteristic temperatures. Vegetable oils generally

exhibit only one pronounced crystalliza-tion peak and one or more smaller peaks. The pronounced peak will usually occur at about -50 °C, -35 °C or 10 °C. Here, it can be clearly seen that the pronounced crystallization peaks do in fact occur at around these temperatures, therefore displaying characteristic crystallization behavior of vegetable oils.

Vegetable oils exhibit characteristic crys-tallization behavior which is strongly influenced by the composition of the

Fig 1. DSC curves of different cold-pressed native oils. (Source: UserCom2�)

5METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

STA

Reoil. The evaluation curves show that the

DSC 1 provides a fast, easy and accurate approach to investigating the crystalli-zation behavior of natural oils used in various cosmetic products. The DSC 1 also has important benefits such as outstand-ing measurement performance, wide tem-perature range and accuracy as well as easily catering for small and large sample volumes. DSC is an extremely valuable technique for the quality assurance of vegetable oils in the cosmetic industry.

} www.mt.com/dsc

6

Ex Z

one

2 Ba

lanc

es

METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

Smell DangerWeighing in Hazardous Areas

Large cosmetic manufactures produce up to 1,500 perfume mixtures per

day using robotic dosing equipment. Up to 55 of these mixtures per day

will be performed manually. Perfume contains alcohol and it is therefore

likely that these manufacturers have performed risk analysis according

to ATEX137 and designated their work areas as a Zone 2 environment.

Manufacturers may therefore decide upon the use of special Ex Zone 2

Equipment for his purposes.

Typical Requirements for Perfume ManufacturersFor manual mixing, tare containers from 700 g to 2 kg may be used. Balances per-forming formulations are often placed in production environment and have to be efficient, fast and safe. They are often connected to special PC software carrying out formulation. Despite the large capac-ity, balances often require a resolution of 1mg.

METTLER TOLEDO Ex Zone 2 BalancesAn ideal balance for the aforementioned requirements is the XS5003SXDR, with its 1 mg resolution and 5 kg absolute ca-pacity. Its easy to clean surface results in less cleaning time which is ideal for large throughput production facilities. More than 80 components can be used for the formulation of mixtures and the integra-tion of the PC balance software ensures the full documentation of each formu-

lation for future reference. METTLER TOLEDO LabX Balance Software not only fulfils those requirements, but also helps to increase productivity and avoid errors. The typical balance user does not need special computer training and can work through a pre-defined procedure by us-ing the guidance on the balance touch-screen. The XS touch screen is ideal for displaying dialog which will help the op-erator to be guided simply through any work process. All reports generated with LabX balances are stored centrally on the laboratory PC with full traceability showing the time, date and results of any process carried out.

The combination of XS5003SXDR Balance and LabX Software is the perfect solution for the customer who needs to combine efficiency, ease of use and full laboratory process documentation control.

} www.mt.com/xs

7METTLER TOLEDO CosmeticsNews 9

Titra

tion METTLER TOLEDO Titration Excellence System

For Better Hair Colorants

The hair colorant industry is experiencing high growth thanks to new

markets, product innovation and peoples’ desire to look beautiful and

young longer. Hair dyes are complex mixtures of potentially dangerous

chemicals and, for that reason, need to be analyzed carefully. METTLER

TOLEDO titrators offer the unique benefits of improving lab productivity

and product quality, thus bringing peace of mind to end users about the

safety of hair dyes and the quality of their resulting hair color.

Bright Prospects for the Hair Color IndustryThe hair color industry is booming with global revenues reaching over 8 billion USD and high growth rates. Global mar-ket leaders such as L’ORÉAL, Clairol or KAO invest heavily into new and better products with longer lasting effects. The chemistry of hair colorants is complex and often involves applying rather ag-gressive substances such as hydrogen per-oxide, ammonia and benzene or phenol based dye substances onto consumers’ hair and scalps.

Quality Matters – for Safety and Well-BeingDuring the development process, and subsequently to control production, care-ful concentration determination of these substances is crucial to minimizing health and safety risks to consumers and ensuring that the hair colorant achieves the desired color result. Titration plays a key role in the analysis of hair colorants as it is used for determining the hydrogen peroxide and ammonia content of hair dyes, both of which are crucial for safety and coloring results.

Solution for Increased Productivity and Better ResultsThe METTLER TOLEDO Titration Ex-cellence-RONDO system offers unique advantages for the above mentioned de-terminations and is used extensively in the laboratories of the hair color market leaders. Thanks to a fully flexible method

concept, one or both tests in the sequence can be performed fully automatically on a series of samples. Unique solutions such as beaker lid handling, built-in pumps or multiple titration stands improve the analysis of each different hair colorant sample with the best possible method. Covering up samples before and after ti-tration with the lid handling option, for example, prevents false results due to am-monia evaporation or peroxide decompo-sition and reduces contamination within the laboratory atmosphere. Automation of all analytical steps allows the testing of multiple samples, thus improves results and ultimately product quality. In con-clusion, if a hair colorant product is tested with a METTLER TOLEDO titrator, con-sumers will be happy with the resulting color and will appreciate the safety ben-efits of the accurate concentration control of potentially dangerous ingredients.

} www.mt.com/titration

Cover-up™ automatically removes the lid of a titration beaker immediately prior to analysis, thus preventing the evaporation of sample components and contamination of the lab with toxic or odorous substances.

Mettler-Toledo AGLaboratory DivisionIm LangacherCH-8606 Greifensee, Switzerland

Your METTLER TOLEDO contact:

www.mt.comFor more information

Weighing Solutions and Analytical Instruments

New Products and Technologies From METTLER TOLEDOMETTLER TOLEDO delivers powerful solutions that simplify work in labo-

ratories around the world. Combining our state-of-the-art technologies

with our applicative competence, we have a strong value proposition to

make: accurate results and productivity second to none.

Manual Multi-channel Pipetting Increase productivity with the new Pipet-Lite Adjustable Spacer – the world’s only manual multi-channel pipette with adjustable spacing. Ideal for routine work in genomic, proteomic, tissue culture and cell culture applications, this pipette can easily alter the format spacing from 24-well to 96-well. Just a twist is all that’s required to change spacing!

} www.mt.com/PipetLite-Spacer

New Range of Laboratory Conductivity Sensors Easier Handling and More PrecisionThe entire range of laboratory conductivity sen-sors is replaced by the second generation of InLab® conductivity sensors. The robust sensors have a newly developed open tip design. There-fore, sample carryover is reduced to an absolute minimum. Cleaning and rinsing becomes easier. The linearity over the whole measuring range is maximized and the response time is shortened. All kinds of samples can be measured easily, including pure water. } www.mt.com/inlabconductivity

LabX Balance Software Version 1.5 New: Inbuilt Job Templates and GWP® Support!In this new version of LabX balance software, 25 ready-to-use job templates are integrated. It is even easier to get up and running with applica-tions such as Moisture Content Determination, Filter Weighing, Standard Solutions, Density Determination and many more! Using the full on screen user guidance, on both balance and PC, LabX balance 1.5 also helps you work according to GWP® guidelines, making lab work easier and more efficient.

} www.mt.com/labx-balance

The First Class ChoiceFor Valuable SamplesKeeping sample weights as small as possible means tremendous cost savings when handling precious, degradable or toxic substances. The new XP6U/XP2U Ultra Micro Balance and XP6 Micro Balance are designed to boost efficiency and reliability as well as support network com-patibility.

} www.mt.com/micro