Database/Preservative/Calcium Sorbate
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Calcium Sorbate natural?

Mostly not. Calcium is a natural mineral ion; sorbic acid is industrially synthesized from petrochemical ketene and crotonaldehyde despite trace natural occurrence.

INCI nameCalcium Sorbate
CAS7492-55-9
FormulaC12H14CaO4 · 262.31 Da
FunctionPreservative
FeedstockCalcium Sorbate is made by neutralizing synthetic sorbic…

How we scored it

Ca2+ natural mineral counter-ion = 40.08 Da; sorbate (hexa-2,4-dienoate x2) from synthetic ketene+crotonaldehyde route, petrochemical = 222.24 Da → 40.08/262.31 = 0.15.
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

Calcium Sorbate is made by neutralizing synthetic sorbic acid (from ketene and crotonaldehyde) with calcium hydroxide. Sorbic acid also occurs naturally in rowan berries, but this is not a commercial source.

In plain English

A preservative combining sorbic acid with calcium. The calcium is a natural mineral, but the sorbic acid is manufactured synthetically from petrochemical raw materials rather than extracted from plants.

CosIng definition: Calcium Sorbate is the calcium salt of Sorbic Acid that conforms to the formula:

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Structure

2D structure of Calcium Sorbate

calcium bis((2E,4E)-hexa-2,4-dienoate)

PubChem CID 6433506 ↗

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. 2Calcium Sorbate. PubChem CID 6433506. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3CALCIUM SORBATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4CALCIUM SORBATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CALCIUM%20SORBATE