Search on structuration of fatty media for the vectorization of bioactive compounds: oral and topical nutritional applications – VECT'OLEO

The roadmap of the Vect'OLEO Labcom includes
1. A setting phase
2. An operational phase organized around two objectives
3. A recovery phase coupling scientifical approach and ndustrialal approach

The rules of operation and governance between ICSM and OLEOS
The exchange of technical and scientific knowledge between the two entities .
The realization of an experimental benchmark study: analysis ICSM a simple oil system (olive oil + extractant) proposed by OLEOS

The choice of the valuation tools for the study

1st publication in progress

The extraction of active principles contained in plant substrates and their concentrations in natural oils are the basis of the technological concept developed by OLEOS, offering a new generation of cosmetic active ingredients. These ingredients include for example antioxidants and are relatively fragile compounds outside their native environment. However, their formulation in Oléoactifs® results in a remarkable stability of these active principles for several months at room temperature. The principle is based on the theory of "polar paradox of antioxidants" There is a large interest to add in a vegetable oil polar antioxidants that can organize and act in synergy with the non-polar antioxidants. This concept also enhances biological synergism in vivo in particular for the skin, between the properties of fatty acids and micronutrients oil and those of different bioactive extracts. But to date, this technology is limited by two major obstacles: 1 / the concentration of polar compounds using lipo-extractable oil is limited. 2 / the supra-molecular organizations of the various extracted compounds within the oil are not known and therefore the results of the oil- extraction remain empirical and difficult to be controlled at the industrial level. However, the oleo-extraction or the conception of structured vegetable oils is today a promising industrial challenge for green eco-ingredients, with no chemical or synthetic process and more bio-available and easily formulated than hydro-alcoholic based extracts.
The ICSM laboratory is expert in the study of supramolecular organizations and dynamic process of amphiphilic molecules and ions at interfaces for studying extraction and sorption processes. This scientific knowledge is somewhat unique on structured oils and the ion-complexation via non-polar molecules. ICSM has also a powerful equipment to carry out microscopic thermodynamic and structural physico-chemical studies on these type of oily environments. The expertise of the ICSM and those of OLEOS on lipids and oil-extraction is really complementary. The Labcom VECT'OLEO will develop ternary systems [vegetable oil + natural complexant + bioactive compound] offering increased performance in terms of concentration and stability through better control of the mesoscopic organization of oily systems.
This Labcom will establish a lasting exchange of knowledge, creativity and analytical tools to drive the innovative and more efficient creation of Oléoactifs ® that will be on the food and cosmetic markets via OLEOS.
Beyond the innovative products and processes that VECT'OLEO will directly provide to OLEOS for its competitive development, the joint laboratory will contribute to the necessary understanding to optimize routes and methods of extraction by nonpolar oily solvents. It will also contribute to modeling the transcutaneous transfer of apolar and polar species via structured oils and to study the impact of the oxidation phenomena on the stability of the oil vectorization processes within a cellular structure (strongly dependent on the structure and dynamics of the chemical species at the molecular and supramolecular scales).
This is a research and development project that is not only dedicated to health and well-being, but is 100% natural and furthermore involves management of renewable resources and low energy requirements (use of local resources). Although research on vegetable extraction is not recent (herbalism and herbal medicine are techniques or practices that have existed for centuries), its integration in an industrial sector employing neither synthetic solvents nor synthetic chemistry from extraction to use, while optimizing the efficiency of the process, is unique and innovative. It is a true challenge to move beyond empirical research and development towards a streamlined process in cosmetics and to move towards the nutraceutical domain.