US Patent US3839566, granted 1974, is P&G's 'percutaneous penetration enhancer (aliphatic sulfoxide × steroid)' — not avobenzone (Parsol 1789), not Givaudan: an excavation tale where the candidates.tsv patent number itself was wrong, take #2

About the excavation memo: This memo is a second consecutive patent-number mix-up tale following ep74 (DE200619C Nivea mix-up). The intent is to make the DB correction density of candidates.tsv visible together within Day 20.

What Happened

I retrieved CS-005 'Avobenzone (Parsol 1789) sunscreen patent US3839566' in candidates.tsv (DB note: 'Avobenzone patented by Givaudan in 1973 — a turning point in sunscreen design where UVA is chemically absorbed') as a Day 20 memo candidate. As with ep74, Google Patents returned a completely different patent.

In short, the patent number US3839566 registered in the DB was not the avobenzone (Parsol 1789) origin patent but P&G's percutaneous penetration enhancer patent. It is completely outside both the cosmetic context and the UV-filter context.

Claim 1 (Verbatim, for reference)

A composition for application to animal tissue comprising a safe and effective amount of a pharmacologically active steroid and from about 0.1% to about 10.0% of an aliphatic sulfoxide selected from the group consisting of octyl methyl sulfoxide, nonyl methyl sulfoxide, decyl methyl sulfoxide, undecyl methyl sulfoxide, dodecyl methyl sulfoxide, 2-hydroxydecyl methyl sulfoxide, 2-hydroxyundecyl methyl sulfoxide and 2-hydroxydodecyl methyl sulfoxide.

Constituent elements:

1. Target: topical application to animal tissue
2. Required component 1: pharmacologically active steroid (presumed local steroids such as hydrocortisone or triamcinolone)
3. Required component 2: 0.1-10.0% of one of 8 C8-C12 aliphatic methyl sulfoxides (the higher-chain analogs of OMSO / NMSO / DMSO plus 2-hydroxy derivatives)
4. Effect: the abstract explicitly states that these C8-C12 aliphatic sulfoxides 'enhance the penetration of steroids through skin'

This is P&G's proprietary technology extending DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide, the C2 methyl sulfoxide) percutaneous penetration enhancement to higher-chain analogs — not a UV filter, not avobenzone. No relation to Hoffmann-La Roche, Givaudan, or butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane.

Abstract (Verbatim)

The patent discloses compositions for topical application to skin comprising a steroid and certain higher (C8-C12) aliphatic sulfoxides which enhance the penetration of the steroids through skin.

The phrase "higher (C8-C12) aliphatic sulfoxides" makes it explicit at the outset that this is a percutaneous penetration enhancer patent. There is no room for it to be a UV-filter patent.

What Is the Correct Avobenzone (Parsol 1789) Origin Patent? (Provisional)

WebSearch against Wikipedia / PharmaCompass / Smart Skin Care / UL Prospector confirms:

• 1973: Givaudan (Switzerland) patented butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane (later Parsol 1789 / Eusolex 9020 / Escalol 517).
• Commercialization: Hoffmann-La Roche commercialized it as Parsol 1789; later Givaudan / DSM lineage retained the trademark.
• US FDA approval: Approved as an OTC sunscreen ingredient in 1988; in the 2000s, became a major UVA filter.

So the correct origin patent is the '1973 Givaudan' patent, not the 1974 P&G US3839566. The year proximity (1973 vs 1974) and the surface similarity of "sunscreen = applied to skin" / "penetration enhancer = applied to skin" likely misled the DB construction.

Important: At the time of writing, the number of this 1973 Givaudan avobenzone patent is unconfirmed. Wikipedia's avobenzone page and industry articles do not list the number. Direct USPTO Patent Public Search using 'Givaudan' / 'butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane' / '1973' is the next excavation step. It could be a Swiss patent (CH series) or a US patent (US series) — both must be checked.

DB Correction Items

The CS-005 row in candidates.tsv should be corrected as follows:

1. Patent number: US3839566 → Unconfirmed (1973 Givaudan, requires further excavation)
2. Title (per patent text): 'Avobenzone (Parsol 1789) sunscreen patent' → Unconfirmed (1973 Givaudan, butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane)
3. Inventors: (DB blank) → Unconfirmed (Givaudan in-house inventors, requires USPTO search)
4. Assignee: 'Givaudan (Switzerland) / Hoffmann-La Roche (US)' → 'Givaudan (original) → Hoffmann-La Roche (license) → DSM / Givaudan (successors)'
5. Year: '1973' → '1973 (Givaudan filing / grant, number unconfirmed) / 1988 FDA OTC approval'

The candidate status remains "Source Not Confirmed" with the patent number replacement (USPTO direct search) as the next excavation step.

Why the Mix-Up Entered the DB (Speculation)

This is a 2-for-2 streak following ep74 in the same pattern:

1. Mechanical substitution by 1973 vs 1974 year proximity: Starting from "Avobenzone 1973," a 1974-grant US patent number was short-circuited. US3839566 has Grant 1974-10-01 and Priority 1970-05-15, neither matching 1973.
2. Surface similarity of "sunscreen" / "applied to skin" / "chemistry" keywords: Both the Givaudan avobenzone patent and the P&G penetration enhancer patent live in the "chemical applied to skin" surface context, and the search results may have mixed.
3. WebSearch top-result mix-up: At DB construction, a search for "avobenzone 1973 patent number" may have produced a top result that was registered without verification.

The two consecutive patent-number mix-ups (ep74 Nivea, ep75 avobenzone) discovered on Day 20 are not coincidence; they should be read as a systematic problem in the cosmetic subseries DB construction:

• CS-001 (Retin-A, ep63): Source Confirmed (US3729568 verified)
• CS-002 (Botox): Source Found Not Read (unverified)
• CS-003 (Hyaluronic acid, ep72): Source Confirmed (US4636524A verified)
• CS-004 (Nivea): Patent number wrong (DE200619C is a radiator)
• CS-005 (Avobenzone): Patent number wrong (US3839566 is a penetration enhancer)
• CS-006 (AHA, ep73): Source Confirmed (US4105782 verified, but 5 corrections in other fields)
• CS-007 (Niacinamide): Source Not Confirmed (unverified)
• CS-008 (Kojic acid): Source Not Confirmed (unverified)

Of 8 cosmetic candidates: 3 were verified (1 of those, CS-006, has 5 field-level corrections); 2 of 5 unverified (CS-004 / CS-005) have wrong patent numbers. The remaining 3 (CS-002 / CS-007 / CS-008) are likely to also contain patent-number errors. Re-verifying all 8 should be the priority for the next cosmetic excavation.

Why Record It as a "Failed Excavation Log #2"

Following the IR Archaeology #1 pattern from ep74, but emphasizing the meaning of two consecutive discoveries on Day 20:

• Visibility for systematic DB-construction problems: One case is coincidence; two in a row is process failure. This becomes the trigger for revisiting Cosmetic Archaeology DB methodology.
• Re-verification flag for all 8 cosmetic candidates: This memo flags CS-002 / CS-007 / CS-008 to readers and to future excavators as 'likely to contain patent-number errors.'
• Transparency in DB correction count: Day 20 cumulative is 29-33 (ep73 CS-006 ×5) + 34 (ep74 CS-004) + 35 (ep75 CS-005) = 7 in Day 20 alone; series-wide cumulative is now 35 corrections.

Strictly Speaking

Confirmed facts:

• Primary source: Google Patents US3839566 retrieved via WebFetch; Title / inventors / assignees / Priority Date / Grant Date / Claim 1 verbatim / Abstract verbatim confirmed.
• US3839566 is in fact P&G's penetration enhancer patent 'Compositions for topical application to animal tissue and method of enhancing penetration thereof,' inventors Francis S. Kilmer MacMillan / Warren I. Lyness, Priority 1970-05-15, Grant 1974-10-01.
• Claim 1 covers a pharmacologically active steroid + C8-C12 aliphatic sulfoxide composition; no UV-filter description appears.
• Avobenzone (butyl methoxydibenzoylmethane, Parsol 1789) was patented by Givaudan in 1973 (per Wikipedia / industry articles); the number is unconfirmed.
• Hoffmann-La Roche commercialized it as Parsol 1789; US FDA OTC approval was in 1988 (per industry articles).

Author's interpretation:

• The 'DB patent-number mix-up' judgment rests on the same logic as ep74: title, assignee, and technical content diverge completely from the candidates.tsv record.
• The 'two consecutive Day 20 discoveries are systematic' judgment is the author's evaluation; the author did not directly observe the DB construction process.

Metaphor / analogy:

• 'The cosmetic subseries DB had errors entered by the same construction process' is reasoning at the similar level. There is no direct evidence in this memo that CS-004 and CS-005 went through the same construction process.

Unverified:

• The correct number of the 1973 Givaudan avobenzone patent
• Whether Givaudan filed in Switzerland (CH), the US, or both
• Hoffmann-La Roche's Parsol 1789 trademark filing year and country
• Federal Register citation for the 1988 FDA OTC approval
• Patent number verification for CS-002 (Botox US4932936) / CS-007 (Niacinamide US5851538) / CS-008 (Kojic acid US4767628)

Where this comparison breaks down:

• '1973 Givaudan' rests on Wikipedia / PharmaCompass / industry articles, which themselves can be wrong. Until USPTO direct search confirms the number, the 'correct origin patent' description in this memo is also provisional.
• 'Re-verify all 8 cosmetic candidates' is this memo's recommendation, not a direct instruction to Haruko about time allocation. Cosmetic priority within candidates.tsv as a whole (200+ records) requires separate judgment.

Day 23 follow-up — USPTO / Espacenet direct search outcome

In ep84 cosmetic-patent-memo-10 the USPTO Patent Public Search and Espacenet Worldwide Search were run for the 1973 Givaudan avobenzone origin patent. Across 16 publicly available sources (Wikipedia / PubChem / Pharmacompass / Smartskincare / Sciencedirect, etc.) the 1973 origin number was not recorded; AI-generated candidate numbers (CH561168A5, CH570454A5, etc.) returned 503/Captcha at patents.google.com and could not be individually verified. Both target databases require interactive UI search. This memo's finding is cosmetic-DB form 1 (mix-up); ep84 documents the move from there into form 3 (information wall). CS-005's DB status was downgraded to Excavated as Information Wall on Day 23.

References:

• Google Patents US3839566 — P&G penetration enhancer (NOT the avobenzone patent)
• Wikipedia — Avobenzone
• PharmaCompass — Parsol 1789 (Avobenzone)
• USPTO Patent Public Search