Formulators No Longer Have to Trade-off Between Performance & Sustainability

In a recent interview, Piera Pericu, Business Segment Lead in Personal Care, shares the inspiration and innovation behind AURIST™ AGC, IFF’s groundbreaking skin and hair conditioning polymer. Developed to bridge the gap between high performance and sustainability, AURIST™ AGC is a readily biodegradable alpha-glucan polysaccharide created using IFF’s proprietary Designed Enzymatic Biopolymers (DEB) technology.

“We identified a gap in the functional category, particularly within the hair conditioning space, for ingredients that are both high-performing and sustainable. Historically, achieving sustainability often meant compromising on performance. AURIST™ AGC was developed with the belief that formulators should never have to make trade-offs between performance AND sustainability.”

Unlike conventional conditioning agents, AURIST™ AGC offers transparent formulations, is compatible with a wide range of ingredients, and easy to use — no pH neutralization or pre-mixing required. It’s also cold-processable and ideal for formats like foaming pumps, ensuring a smooth user experience.

The DEB platform itself is a game-changer. DEB is a biocatalysis process to create new-to-the-world class of alpha-glucan polysaccharides through the enzymatic polymerization of glucose. These alpha-glucan polysaccharides can then be designed and customized to meet desired performance needs and product specifications for specific applications. Just like natural polymers, these can then be further optimized via chemical modification.

Benefit of AURIST™ AGC at a glance

• Improves wet and dry combability
• Improves hair fluffiness
• Helps reduce cuticle damage for glossier hair finish
• Improves hair manageability by providing soft styling

Read the full interview to discover how IFF is setting new standards in sustainable innovation and what’s next for DEB technology.