Database/Skin Conditioning/Butylene Carbonate
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Butylene Carbonate natural?

No. Butylene oxide/butanediol backbone is petrochemical; no natural feedstock route is used commercially for this cyclic carbonate.

INCI nameButylene Carbonate
CAS4437-85-8
FormulaC5H8O3 · 116.11 Da
FunctionSkin Conditioning
FeedstockButylene Carbonate is produced by reacting butylene oxide…

How we scored it

Cyclic ester of 1,2-butanediol (from petrochemical butylene oxide) and CO2, analogous to propylene carbonate; whole ring petrochemical → 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

Butylene Carbonate is produced by reacting butylene oxide (from petrochemical butene) with carbon dioxide to form the cyclic carbonate ring. No bio-based commercial route is established.

In plain English

A lightweight solvent and skin conditioner made from a synthetic petrochemical building block combined with carbon dioxide.

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Structure

2D structure of Butylene Carbonate

4-ethyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-one

PubChem CID 107282 ↗

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. 2Butylene Carbonate. PubChem CID 107282. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3BUTYLENE CARBONATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4BUTYLENE CARBONATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=BUTYLENE%20CARBONATE