Database/Hair Dyeing/HC Blue No. 2
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is HC Blue No. 2 natural?

No. Entirely synthesised from petrochemical aniline and nitro-aromatic building blocks; no natural feedstock contributes mass.

INCI nameHC Blue No. 2
CAS33229-34-4
FormulaC12H19N3O5 · 285.30 Da
FunctionHair Dyeing
FeedstockManufactured by nitration and bis-hydroxyethylation of petrochemical aniline…

How we scored it

Synthetic nitro-phenylenediamine dye built from aniline chemistry; no natural fragment. 0/285 = 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

Manufactured by nitration and bis-hydroxyethylation of petrochemical aniline derivatives. No natural-origin route exists for this hair-dye intermediate.

In plain English

A small-molecule dye used to give blue shades in hair colouring products. It is made entirely through synthetic organic chemistry from petroleum-derived aniline.

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Structure

2D structure of HC Blue No. 2

2-[4-[bis(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]-2-nitroanilino]ethanol

PubChem CID 36383 ↗

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. 2HC Blue No. 2. PubChem CID 36383. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3HC BLUE NO. 2. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4HC BLUE NO. 2. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=HC%20BLUE%20NO.%202