INFORM March 2025

EDITOR’S LETTER

inform March 2025, Vol. 36 (3) • 5

Surfactants for better consumer products and healthcare treatments

A growing number of consumers are making a conscious choice when it comes to laundry. They wash fuller loads at a lower temperature to save energy and extend the clothes’ lifetime. Sustainable laundry detergents are made with fewer ingredients, biodegradable materials, natural fragrances, and they are more highly concentrated. In our cover story this month, multiple industry experts describe the complex science behind making a concentrated laundry detergent. Read about the many challenges that must be considered and how developing a detergent for space might help formulators overcome them. Next, microemulsions have emerged as promising advanced drug delivery systems due to their unique proper ties and versatile applications. This distinct class of disper sions, containing oil, water, and amphiphile, are characterized by their transparency or translucency and thermodynamic stability. They offer several advantages, like prolonged shelf life, improved drug solubilization, and ease of preparation and administration, that make them attractive for drug delivery. Microemulsions maintain constant droplet sizes with min imal oil/water interfacial tension. This stability and uniformity contribute to their effectiveness as drug carriers, allowing for controlled or sustained release across a range of administra tion routes. From ocular to percutaneous, topical, transdermal, and parenteral applications, microemulsions offer versatile delivery platforms that can accommodate various therapeu tic needs. And by reducing the volume of the drug delivery vehicle, they help minimize toxic side effects associated with conventional formulations. In the case of lipophilic drug admin istration, microemulsions facilitate absorption by aiding in the solubilization of the compounds in the human body. In this issue, we have two stories about drug delivery with microemulsions. The first is the story of researchers who use their knowledge of the HLD-NAC model to tune microemulsion formulates for optimal containment of lipophilic compounds. The second feature article summarizes a recent research paper

on the development of a new, microemulsion psoriasis treat ment that is made more effective with fewer side effects than what is currently available. Our last feature article is by a researcher who describes how her company instituted a mineral oil hydrocarbon risk assessment on their palm oil processing supply chain and the mitigation steps they implemented to ensure the highest pos sible food safety. Their lessons learned are translatable to any edible oil manufacturer. I look forward to seeing everyone next month in Portland!

Yours in science,