Full stated quantity, and nothing overstated — every active's purity and identity are measured, not claimed, and printed on its batch COA with counter-ion and water.
Full stated quantity, purity never overstated — measured on a per-lot COA.
Full quantity, nothing overstated — per-lot COA.
GHK-Cu in 2026 — A Formulator's Field Guide to Copper Tripeptide-1. Read our briefing →
GHK-Cu in 2026 — a formulator's field guide. Read →
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Palmitoyl pentapeptide-4
Pepoderma primary owner
This is the primary portfolio page for buyers evaluating Matrixyl as a finished cosmetic active, not as a broad peptide catalog SKU. The page should help a cosmetic chemist or skincare founder decide INCI fit, use level, carrier approach, lipidated-peptide handling, sample size, and launch dossier readiness.
Overview
On the INCI deck this active reads as Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 — the lipidated pentapeptide that has lived at the heart of collagen-support serums since the early 2000s. The peptide moiety is KTTKS, a five-residue stretch lifted from the C-propeptide of human type I procollagen; the palmitoyl chain on the N-terminus turns a polar, bench-shy peptide into a stratum-corneum-friendly amphipath that can actually reach the dermal fibroblasts the biology was written about. The story a brand can tell on pack is straightforward: a procollagen-derived signal repackaged into something a topical carrier can deliver. Pepoderma writes the Matrixyl spec for cosmetic chemists building collagen-support and firming serums where the lipidated tail creates real formulation work. Use level lands in the 3–8% window on finished-product mass — serums at the low end, richer night creams at the high end. Hold pH in the 5.0–7.0 band; alkaline drift hydrolyses the palmitoyl amide bond and a hydrolysed lot loses its delivery story along with its INCI integrity. The hydrophobic tail rewards oil-phase or co-solvent loading rather than a straight water add — pre-disperse in a polysorbate or polyglyceryl blend at moderate temperature, then bring it down with the cool-down train. The release packet covers peak-integration HPLC on a wider-pore column and shallower gradient than an unmodified peptide needs, mass-spec confirmation of the palmitoyl-conjugated mass, and water content. INCI and CAS appear on the SDS for CPNP notifications. Matrixyl plays well alongside Snap-8 and GHK-Cu in multi-active stacks because the three address distinct dermal-aging axes.
Who buys this, and why
Anti-aging peptide actives — Copper Tripeptide-1 (GHK-Cu), Acetyl Octapeptide-3 (SNAP-8), Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 (Matrixyl) — ship primarily to indie beauty brand founders building retail serums, established skincare R&D chemists extending an existing anti-wrinkle line, and med-aesthetic brand OEMs developing back-bar retail products. The defining formulation considerations are use-level optimisation (lower is often better at the working pH), carrier selection (aqueous vs. lipid-encapsulated), and chelator-free preservative systems. The data packet ships with guidance on all three on the lot report.
Primary buyer fit: med-aesthetic brand R&D + back-bar retail OEM and regional cosmetic-active distributors serving brand programmes.
Applications & formulation fit
A signal peptide (matrixokine): the KTTKS fragment, lipidated with a palmitoyl tail so it can cross the stratum corneum, then signals dermal fibroblasts to support collagen and matrix proteins.
Matrixyl is one of the curated actives we supply to:
Use levels, pH window, and carrier compatibility are covered in the Journal — verify them against your own base:
Specifications
Documentation available on request
Regulatory note
Supplied as a cosmetic-grade peptide active under the EU EC 1223/2009 cosmetic regulation, NMPA cosmetic ingredient framework, FDA OTC monograph framework (where applicable), and equivalent regimes elsewhere. NOT a finished cosmetic product. Brand registration, finished-product safety substantiation, claim documentation, and notification (CPNP for EU, equivalent registries elsewhere) remain the responsibility of the brand owner. INCI naming and CAS are supplied with the SDS that ships with every lot.
Frequently asked questions
Two different things on a bench, even if the names blur on a marketing brief. Matrixyl is Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4 — the original lipidated KTTKS molecule that the brand category was built around. Matrixyl 3000 is a separate commercial blend from Sederma that pairs Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 with Palmitoyl Tetrapeptide-7 and is regulated, dosed, and formulated differently. A brief that asks for 'Matrixyl' at quote stage without being specific tends to end in expensive sample swaps, so chemists should specify the INCI name (Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4) on every PO. Pepoderma supplies the original Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4; the wider Matrixyl-family lipidated peptides including Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1 are available on request and run on a separate analytical workflow.
Without the palmitoyl tail, KTTKS is too polar to negotiate the lipid lamellae of the stratum corneum in any meaningful quantity — the unmodified pentapeptide essentially sits on top of the skin and washes off. Conjugating palmitic acid to the N-terminus gives the molecule an amphipathic character: the lipid tail partitions into the stratum corneum lipids, then the peptide moiety releases into the viable epidermis where dermal fibroblasts can sense the signal. The palmitoyl group is a delivery vehicle, not the biology, so a chemist evaluating analogues should keep the KTTKS sequence intact and only swap the tail when the carrier system specifically asks for a different lipidation strategy.
Cosmetic formulations typically dose Matrixyl at 3–8% on finished-product mass, with serums sitting at the lower end and richer night creams pushing toward the upper end. The pH window is 5.0–7.0; alkaline drift hydrolyses the palmitoyl amide bond and releases free palmitic acid plus free KTTKS, which kills the topical-penetration story and gives a stability programme an awkward second-peak problem on HPLC. Pre-dispersing the powder in a small co-solvent or emulsifier slurry before bringing it into the main batch avoids the agglomerates that lipidated peptides like to form, and stacking with Snap-8 and GHK-Cu in a multi-active serum works because the actives sit in different polarity layers — keep the copper-peptide phase chelator-free and the active order in the cool-down train will do the rest.
