Chemo-enzymatic synthesis and study of physico-chemical/biological properties of novel Levoglucosenone-derived analogues of mycosporine-like amino-acids: safe biobased UV filters for cosmetics – LAGOON

UV filters, molecules capable of protecting us from sun damage, are today criticized because of their toxicity towards humans, but also towards marine fauna and flora. Finding non-toxic substitutes for them is therefore a matter of public health and environmental preservation. Moreover, due to their petroleum origin, their price is extremely fluctuating and most UV filters are not biodegradable. There is therefore today a strong demand – from both industry and consumers – for new innovations enabling the production of alternatives to current UV filters that are both renewable and safer.

LAGOON relies both on the pioneering work of URD ABI on biosourced UV filters, and on mycosporin-like amino acids (MAAs), natural UV filters biosynthesized by aquatic organisms. Despite their strong interest for the cosmetics industry, these MAAs cannot be extracted from these marine organisms as they are present in very small quantities. LAGOON is precisely designed to overcome not only this supply problem but also the aforementioned obstacles by offering a sustainable approach that aims to produce MAAS analogues directly from levoglucosenone (a molecule easily accessible from lignocellulosic biomass) which can advantageously replace current UV filters.

A public-private partnership has been set up to carry out this multidisciplinary and ambitious project: two French laboratories internationally recognized in green chemistry (URD ABI) and in complex mixtures/formulations for cosmetics (URCOM) will work hand in hand with a world-class company specializing in the production of cosmetics (LVMH).