Database/Colorant/Pigment Red 53
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Pigment Red 53 natural?

Mostly not. Only the sodium sulfonate group counts as natural origin; the azo dye framework, chlorine included, is built from petrochemical aromatics.

INCI namePigment Red 53
CAS2092-56-0
FormulaC17H12ClN2NaO4S · 398.8 Da
FunctionColorant
FeedstockMade by diazotising a chlorinated toluidine sulfonic acid…

How we scored it

C17H12ClN2NaO4S 398.8 Da: sodium 23.0 + sulfonate SO3 80.1 = 103.1 natural; the ring chlorine belongs to the petrochemical aromatic framework, not to a mineral salt. 103.1 / 398.8 = 0.26.
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

Made by diazotising a chlorinated toluidine sulfonic acid and coupling it with 2-naphthol, both from petrochemical aromatics, then forming the sodium salt. No natural-origin route exists.

In plain English

A red synthetic azo colourant, here as its sodium salt, used in cosmetics. It is built from petrochemical aromatic chemicals; only the sodium, sulfonate group and chlorine come from mineral sources.

Natural alternatives with the same function

Structure

2D structure of Pigment Red 53

sodium 5-chloro-2-[(2-hydroxynaphthalen-1-yl)diazenyl]-4-methylbenzenesulfonate

PubChem CID 135565346 ↗

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. 2Pigment Red 53. PubChem CID 135565346. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3PIGMENT RED 53. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4PIGMENT RED 53. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=PIGMENT%20RED%2053