The stability of naturally occurring dyes can be improved by incorporation into various inorganic host materials. In this study, we try to insert hydrophobic plant-derived dye between the layers of hydrotalcite. Prior to the complexation with the hydrophobic dye, the hydrotalcite is modified with anionic surfactant to make the interlayer space more hydrophobic. By simply mixing the powdery dye and the organo-modified hydrotalcite, the dye molecules can be incorporated into the interlayer of the hydrotalcite by a hydrophobic interaction. The intercalated dye shows an improved stability against visible light irradiation. On the other hand, rather hydrophilic dye shows less effect on the stability improvement by the complexation, although it has a similar molecular skeleton as the hydrophobic dye.

Sucrose esters of fatty acids have been well-known as additives in foods and excipients in pharmaceutical products since long ago.

Especially high level of safety for food additives of sucrose fatty acid esters has been well-evaluated by international institutions such as the Joint FAO/WHO Expert Committee on Food Additives (JECFA). Needless to say, not only safety but also experiences in the various fields of markets are important to apply to the cosmetics. In this review, we describe some of the progress of cosmetic formulation with the use of sugar esters i.e., to make most of the high-performance ingredients.

Photosynthesis is an excellent conversion system of solar-energy in nature. Functional pigments, which can efficiently absorb photons in the visible wavelength region, play important roles in photosynthetic systems. This paper focuses on natural photosynthetic systems and photosynthetic pigments that function in this system.

Polyglycerol fatty acid esters (PGFEs) derived from glycerol and fatty acids of plant origin could have distinct structures due to differences in production method of hydrophilic polyglycerol in nature. The Isotropic liquid region in a phase diagram of conventional PGFEs-Water system is narrow (Region I), because the PGFEs obtained by dehydration condensation method usually comprise a higher concentration of cyclic compounds. Whereas, PGFEs derived by ring-opening polymerization procedure consists of a lesser extent of cyclic compounds, and thus result in a wider area of Region I in the phase diagram, compared to conventional PGFEs-Water system. Also, a similar phenomenon could be observed in PGFEs-Water-Oil system because of its lower cyclic PGFEs concentration. It implies that PGFEs with less cyclic components could potentially be applicable for cosmetic formulations wherein high solubility is generally required. Cleansing oil is one example which can be utilized with wet hands or even on a moisturized face. Further, additional applications such as body wash with PFGEs and pigment dispersive effect of condensed polyglycerol polyricinoleate are also exemplified in this article.

The difference in response of colors between plants and human is discussed. Photosynthesis for life-support and growing of plants is scientifically explained by the number of photons absorbed into plant and energy of the photon. On the other hand, human response of colors has been conducted using psychological physical quantity such as relative luminosity and lux. The mathematical relation between them is shown for discussing the color material. The effect of color for plant growing is discussed in a standpoint of the color material. Live plants can be considered as live color material. The live plant growing in controlled environment such as plant factory is enjoyable as interior regardless of season. As energy discussion leads to global warming, the plant factory would be playing a role of measures of global warming.

Environmental issues of the offset-ink, the color material which makes our lives and cultures richer, have been discussed. In addition to health and safety, environmental and resource preservation have recently become important global issues. Therefore, environmental-friendly offset inks are required.

Aroma-free inks, vegetable (soy) oil inks, and Non-VOC inks have been developed that conform to each environmental guideline to reduce environmental load. Especially, the vegetable oil is the key material to reduce VOC and CO₂, and to preserve exhaustible resources. Among the vegetable oils, the recycled vegetable oil made from waste oil is the essential material to achieve the sustainable society by local production and consumption. Here, I describe the development and the value of the environmental-friendly inks which adapt to the change of offset printing industry.