How we scored it
Two carnitine cations C7H16NO3 324.4 petrochemical; tartrate C4H4O6 148.1 natural (wine tartar); 148.1/472.5 = 0.31.
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
Commercial L-carnitine is made by bacterial conversion of synthetic crotonobetaine or gamma-butyrobetaine, or by chemical synthesis and resolution; tartaric acid is recovered from wine lees. No sugar-fermentation carnitine route is commercially significant.
In plain English
A salt of L-carnitine and tartaric acid used as a skin-conditioning ingredient. Carnitine is a small amino-acid-like molecule made by industrial synthesis and biotransformation; tartaric acid is recovered from wine production.
CosIng definition: Carnitine Tartrate is the salt of Carnitine and Tartaric Acid.
Structure
bis([(2R)-3-carboxy-2-hydroxypropyl]-trimethylazanium);(2R,3R)-2,3-dihydroxybutanedioate
References
- 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.
- 2Carnitine Tartrate. PubChem CID 57349413. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
- 3CARNITINE TARTRATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
- 4CARNITINE TARTRATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CARNITINE%20TARTRATE