Compositions comrising solubilized essential oils

Abstract

Provided are methods for extracting flavor and fragrance materials from natural plant materials, using poly(trimethylene ether) glycol homopolymers and copolymers. The poly(trimethylene ether) glycol homopolymers and copolymers act as solubilizers for essential oils, and can be used to provide compositions having a variety of uses in applications such as cosmetics, personal care products, and industrial cleaning products.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A personal care or cosmetic formulation comprising an essential oil, prepared by a method comprising: contacting the essential oil with a composition comprising one or more esters of either a poly(trimethylene ether) glycol homopolymer or copolymer, wherein the one or more esters of the homopolymer or copolymer have a number average molecular weight within the range of about 134 to about 2000 to form a solution or microemulsion. 
     
     
         2 . A personal care or cosmetic formulation comprising a solution or microemulsion prepared by the method of  claim 1 . 
     
     
         3 . A personal care or cosmetic formulation of  claim 2 , selected from the group consisting of: skin care products, tooth pastes, deodorants, anti-perspirants, insect repellants, anesthetics, shampoos, hair conditioners, sun care products, shower gels, soaps, cleansers, moisturizers, hair styling gels, hair anti-dandruff compositions, hair growth promoter compositions, hair colorant compositions, hair bleaching agent compositions, hair anti-frizzing agent compositions, hair relaxer compositions, shaving product compositions, lubricating gel compositions, spermicidal gel compositions, and skin cleaning compositions. 
     
     
         4 . A composition comprising at least one essential oil and one or more esters of a poly(trimethylene ether) glycol homopolymer or copolymer, wherein the one or more homopolymer or copolymer, or esters thereof, have a number average molecular weight within the range of about 250 to about 650, and wherein the composition has a surface tension of at least 38.0 dynes/cm.