[Pete]

Yep, understand the point about the safe concentrations, but the same rational could be applied to salicylic acid - they assume that the products are applied correctly and that everyone’s skin is the same.

Anyway, I have enjoyed the discussion and happy that Belassi is okay - although I guess you need a replacement product still, to treat the wrist problem long term.

[Pete]

Thanks for that info johnb. I was interested in one particular mosquito that has recently taken resident in our area. They don’t bite me, but they love my wife and daughter. They even bite my daughter during the day at school.

Of course, I was not thinking of using the fragrance alone, but thought there might be some advantage here.

Talking about bees, I think urban bee keepers find all kinds of different colour honeys in London depending on what happens to be tipped in the local dumps.

[Pete]

Yep. I was surprised to see such an ingredient. Goes to show how important it is to look what’s written on the bottle. Fortunate to them that most people don’t (or can’t if their eyesight is starting to go like mine).

[Pete]

Excellent. Thanks for the clarification Belassi!

[Pete]

Thanks. Sounds like I will need to just wait and see if further research comes out on this one.

[Pete]

Well spotted johnb.

By the way, I couldn’t find this exact product available any more. On one site it said they had gone bust and that there any many similar products available instead.

The first one I looked up was Walgreens “Mineral Ice Pain Relieving Gel”

https://www.walgreens.com/store/c/mineral-ice-pain-relieving-gel/ID=prod3252448-product

Interestingly, one of the ingredients is cupric sulfate, that is not present in the list johnb found on the Lander’s product, and doesn’t sound good to me, although the concentration is not given.

According to  a Cornell University pesticide information profile,

“Copper sulfate can be corrosive to the skin and eyes. It is readily absorbed through the skin and can produce a burning pain, along with the same severe symptoms of poisoning from ingestion. Skin contact may result in itching or eczema (13). It is considered a skin sensitizer and can cause allergic reactions in some individuals (16). Eye contact with this material can cause: conjunctivitis, inflammation of the eyelid lining, excess fluid buildup in the eyelid; cornea tissue deterioration due to breaks, or ulceration, in the eye’s mucous membrane; and clouding of the cornea (2).”

The symptoms of poisoning by ingestion include stomach pain which I guess woud be similar to the effect of aspirin.

So my question is, was it definitely the Lander product or could you have been given an alternative with copper sulfate in it?

[Pete]

By test results, you mean in terms of formulating well, because my understanding (which many be misinformed) is that the concentration of vitamin C will be very low.

[Pete]

Thanks guys. I wasn’t aware there was a difference in regulations around disclosure for cosmetics vs perfumes. Something new learnt.

Regarding finding out the active responsible for the antimosquito effect, I agree that is might be difficult to identify, but I see that as an opportunity right up my street, so thought it worth asking to at least narrow down the possibilities.

Many thanks for your comments.

[Pete]

Hi Belassi,

Out of curiosity and because I am new to this site, please could you explain to me why you would discount using ascorbyl glucoside. Is it based on cost and if so, how much cheaper would it need to be to gain your interest.

This would be very interesting for me to understand as a chemist interested in cosmetic ingredients.

[Pete]

Hi David,

Actually there is lots of information on subsequent studies on humans. These are scientific, so much more reliable than the second hyperlink you have down. To see the scientific articles that cite your first document, plug its title into Google Scholar rather than Google. Some of the resultant hits such as,

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1058

will only let you see the abstract and will require a fee to see the whole article. If you don’t have a subscription, you can get around this by plugging the doi number (10.1016/j.jaad.2005.11.1058) into the following Russian website which is trying to open up free access to all scientific articles (after all, much research is publically funded - although someone has to pay to publish it of course - I’ll leave this debate with the Russians to Donald Trump!): http://sci-hub.cc/

Also, thankyou. I had no idea what comedogenicity was until today (and had never heard of it)! 

[Pete]

Hi Zink,

Just looked at this. I am involved with DIY Bio in Barcelona and have passed in on to them in case they want to give it a go. They have built DIY centrifuges, biosafety cabinets and even PCR machines in the past.

One question. Is it possible to but appropriate sensors and LEDs to build a 400nm spec? This would be great for measuring cell optical densities in molecular biology.

[Pete]

Hi Belassi,

Have you tried using vitamin C glycoside? This is claimed to be a slow release, stable form of vitamin C that I understand is quite popular.

[Pete]

Hi All,

My name is Pete and I am from the UK but now living in Spain.

I am a synthetic organic chemist with over a decade of experience in large pharma, specialising in the development of processes using enzymes (bioprocesses). The “rock stars of the pharma industry” as Perry might say!

Currently, I have taken the risk of leaving an indefinite contract in the UK to take up a three year contract within a Spanish university with the intention of identifying new opportunities during this period (but not within big companies).

One of these opportunities would be to start up a company based around my core skills. I have lots of ideas, but funding them without IP or experience in start-ups is likely to be highly challenging if not unrealistic.

One option I have been looking into is partnering up with people in the area that already have a track record in start-ups. However, even in this circumstance, finding sufficient funding to start chemistry projects is still far too expensive.

Based on this, I have been giving recent thought towards a tiered approach, perhaps starting with the development and sale of cosmetics. After all, this is not too dissimilar to my skill set and my wife is great at sales and marketing. Potentially this could then lead to a platform from which I could develop my own ingredients and later my own pharmaceutical development projects.

All dreams at the moment, but joining this site is a tentative step in that direction.