Database/Humectant/Carnitine HCl
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Carnitine HCl natural?

Mostly not. The trimethylammonium carboxylic-acid backbone is industrially built from petrochemical epichlorohydrin/trimethylamine; only the mineral chloride counter-ion is natural.

INCI nameCarnitine HCl
CAS6645-46-1
FormulaC7H16ClNO3 · 197.66 Da
FunctionHumectant · Skin Conditioning
FeedstockL-Carnitine is manufactured mainly by chemical synthesis from…

How we scored it

Carnitine cation (quaternary-amine/carboxylic-acid backbone, treated as petrochemical) 161.2 Da + Cl- mineral counter-ion (natural) 35.45 Da; 35.45/197.66 = 0.18
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

L-Carnitine is manufactured mainly by chemical synthesis from petrochemical epichlorohydrin and trimethylamine, sometimes finished by microbial bioconversion of a still-synthetic precursor (e.g. crotonobetaine). The chloride salt-forming counter-ion is mineral-derived.

In plain English

A salt form of carnitine, a vitamin-like compound the body also makes naturally, used to help skin hold moisture. Commercially it is mostly built up from man-made chemical building blocks.

Natural alternatives with the same function

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Structure

2D structure of Carnitine HCl

[(2R)-3-carboxy-2-hydroxypropyl]-trimethylazanium chloride

PubChem CID 656657 ↗

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. 2Carnitine HCl. PubChem CID 656657. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3CARNITINE HCL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4CARNITINE HCL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CARNITINE%20HCL