Ingredient glossary
Syn-Ake
On your shelf ✓What Syn-Ake does for your skin, who it suits, and what to watch for.
INCI: Dipeptide Diaminobutyroyl Benzylamide Diacetate
In short: Syn-Ake delivers anti-aging support and wrinkle smoothing, suits most skin types, and the evidence behind it is emerging.
- What it does
- Anti aging, wrinkle smoothing
- Best for
- Most skin types
- Evidence
- Emerging
- How long
- Never measured
The molecule
The three pieces are meant to be apart. Syn-Ake is a salt, and its parts are held to each other by opposite charges rather than by a bond.
The Glow take
Nice to have, and nothing to overthink.
Syn-Ake plays a quiet supporting role, rounding out a formula rather than being the reason you buy it.
— Maya
What it does
- anti aging
- wrinkle smoothing
emerging evidenceA double blind placebo controlled study put twenty nine women on the peptide against thirty on placebo for twenty eight days and reported smoother skin on most of them. The manufacturer ran it and no independent trial has followed.
On a label: usually effective at 1-4%.
Who it's for, and who should skip it
Tends to suit
- normal
- combo
- photoaged
Approach with care
No specific group flagged to avoid it.
- Clogs poresLow
- Irritation riskLow
How it fits each skin type
- DrySuits
- CombinationSuits
- OilySuits
- SensitiveSuits
Often chosen for photoaged.
Where it fits in your routine
Nobody has published how long this takes to work.
What is known, and what is missing
Measured on: expression-line smoothing and skin roughness (the anti-ageing job this base scores 5).
The 28-day figure everyone quotes - 29 women on the peptide against 30 on placebo, most of the treated group smoother - is a manufacturer document from Pentapharm/DSM-Firmenich, not a publication: no journal, no DOI, no peer review, and a single assessment at the end with nothing before it. Nothing in the indexed literature tests this peptide on its own. PubMed returns an in-silico and formulation paper, a commentary on the waglerin-1 venom it is modelled on, and a 2026 clinical study of a serum in which it sits alongside acetyl hexapeptide-8, gluconolactone, niacinamide and laminaria extract, so no measured change can be assigned to the peptide itself. The mechanism claimed for it - nicotinic acetylcholine receptor antagonism relaxing mimic muscle - is plausible and would be fast if it worked at 1-4% through intact stratum corneum, but mechanism may not stand in for a measured week. What is specifically missing is any independent vehicle-controlled human study with timed assessments.
No indexed trial isolates this peptide. The 28-day 29-vs-30 study is supplier claim-support literature from the ingredient's manufacturer; PubMed's only clinical record containing it (Int J Cosmet Sci 2026) tests it inside a five-active serum.
Plays well with
- other peptides
- humectants
Syn-Ake, answered
Is Syn-Ake safe during pregnancy?
Yes. Syn-Ake is considered safe to use during pregnancy and breastfeeding. As with anything, if you are unsure it is worth a quick word with your doctor or midwife.
Who should avoid Syn-Ake?
No specific group is flagged to avoid Syn-Ake. It is well tolerated by most skin. Still, introduce anything new one product at a time.
What concentration of Syn-Ake actually works?
Syn-Ake tends to do its job in the 1 to 4% range. Much lower and it is likely underdosed.
Compare Syn-Ake with
- Niacinamide
- Vitamin C (LAA)
- Retinol
- Retinal
- Hydroxypinacolone Retinoate
- Retinyl Palmitate
- Retinyl Acetate
- Retinyl Propionate
- Retinyl Retinoate
- THD Ascorbate
- Ascorbyl Glucoside
- Ethyl Ascorbic Acid
- Palmitoyl Pentapeptide-4
- Palmitoyl Tripeptide-1
- GHK-Cu
- Argireline
- Bakuchiol
- PDRN
- Adenosine
- Leuphasyl
- Rigin
- Matrixyl Synthe'6
- Exosomes
- Epidermal Growth Factor
- Colostrum
- Carnosine
This, for every label you own
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