Database/Fragrance/Butoxyethanol
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Butoxyethanol natural?

No. Built from petrochemical ethylene oxide and synthetic butanol; both are explicitly petrochemical building blocks.

INCI nameButoxyethanol
CAS111-76-2
FormulaC6H14O2 · 118.17 Da
FunctionFragrance · Solvent
FeedstockButoxyethanol is manufactured by reacting petrochemical ethylene oxide…

How we scored it

Ethylene oxide (petrochemical) + butanol (synthetic) -> 2-butoxyethanol; both fragments petrochemical -> 0/118.17 = 0.0
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Butoxyethanol is manufactured by reacting petrochemical ethylene oxide with synthetic butanol. No natural-origin production route exists.

In plain English

A synthetic solvent made by reacting petrochemical ethylene oxide with butanol. Used to dissolve fragrance oils and control the thickness of liquid formulas such as fragrances and some rinse-off products.

CosIng definition: Butoxyethanol is the ether alcohol that conforms to the formula:

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Structure

2D structure of Butoxyethanol

2-butoxyethanol

PubChem CID 8133 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Butoxyethanol. PubChem CID 8133. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3BUTOXYETHANOL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4BUTOXYETHANOL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=BUTOXYETHANOL