Database/Hair Dyeing/HC Red No. 1
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is HC Red No. 1 natural?

No. Synthetic nitrophenylenediamine dye derived entirely from petrochemical aniline and nitrobenzene intermediates.

INCI nameHC Red No. 1
CAS2784-89-6
FormulaC12H11N3O2 · 229.23 Da
FunctionHair Dyeing
FeedstockManufactured by nitration and amination of petrochemical benzene…

How we scored it

Nitro-phenylenediamine dye; aromatic amine core from petrochemical benzene/aniline chemistry. No natural fragment.
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 amination of petrochemical benzene derivatives. No natural-origin production route exists.

In plain English

A synthetic dye made from petroleum-derived chemicals, used to add red color in semi-permanent hair dyes.

CosIng definition: HC Red No. 1 is the hair color that conforms to the formula

Natural alternatives with the same function

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 Pyrogallol 100% natural origin

A hair-dye ingredient traditionally made by heating gallic acid, itself extracted from plant tannins in gallnuts, until it…

Structure

2D structure of HC Red No. 1

2-nitro-1-N-phenylbenzene-1,4-diamine

PubChem CID 5464602 ↗

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 Red No. 1. PubChem CID 5464602. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3HC RED NO. 1. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4HC RED NO. 1. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=HC%20RED%20NO.%201