Database/Absorbent/HEDTA
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is HEDTA natural?

No. Every fragment derives from petrochemical ethylene oxide, ammonia-based amines and chloroacetic acid or cyanide-formaldehyde chemistry.

INCI nameHEDTA
CAS150-39-0
FormulaC10H18N2O7 · 278.26 Da
FunctionAbsorbent · Bulking
FeedstockDominant route: carboxymethylation of N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine with chloroacetic acid,…

How we scored it

C10H18N2O7 278.3: ethylenediamine backbone, hydroxyethyl (ethylene oxide) and three carboxymethyl groups (chloroacetate or cyanide-formaldehyde) are all petrochemical; 0/278.3 = 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

Dominant route: carboxymethylation of N-(2-hydroxyethyl)ethylenediamine with chloroacetic acid, or with formaldehyde and cyanide under alkaline conditions. No alternative route is commercially significant.

In plain English

A chelating agent that binds metal ions, also listed for bulking and viscosity control. It is made synthetically from ethylenediamine, ethylene oxide and chloroacetic acid or cyanide and formaldehyde, all petrochemical.

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Structure

2D structure of HEDTA

2-[2-[bis(carboxymethyl)amino]ethyl-(2-hydroxyethyl)amino]acetic acid

PubChem CID 8773 ↗

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. 2HEDTA. PubChem CID 8773. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3HEDTA. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4HEDTA. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=HEDTA