Database/Emollient/Butyl Stearate
Mostly natural · ISO 16128

Is Butyl Stearate natural?

Mostly. Stearic acid is oleochemical while butanol is explicitly classified as a petrochemical synthetic alcohol under this site's convention.

INCI nameButyl Stearate
CAS123-95-5
FormulaC22H44O2 · 340.6 Da
FunctionEmollient · Fragrance
FeedstockButyl Stearate is the ester of oleochemical stearic…

How we scored it

Stearic acid C18H36O2 284 Da (natural) + n-butanol C4H10O 74 Da (petrochemical) - H2O = 267/341 = 0.79.
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

Butyl Stearate is the ester of oleochemical stearic acid with butanol, which is predominantly produced petrochemically (oxo/aldol route from propylene); a minor bio-fermentation (ABE process) route to butanol exists. This site's convention treats butanol as petrochemical.

In plain English

An emollient and plasticizer that smooths skin and adds shine in cosmetics. It combines a common vegetable-oil fatty acid with butanol, an alcohol that is mostly manufactured from petrochemical feedstock.

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Structure

2D structure of Butyl Stearate

butyl octadecanoate

PubChem CID 31278 ↗

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. 2Butyl Stearate. PubChem CID 31278. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3BUTYL STEARATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4BUTYL STEARATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=BUTYL%20STEARATE