Database/Antistatic/Polyquaternium-12
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Polyquaternium-12 natural?

Mostly not. The abietyl group comes from pine rosin and the sulfate of the methosulfate counter-ion comes from mineral sulfuric acid, so both count as natural origin. The methacrylate backbone, the diethylaminoethyl comonomer and the methyl carried by the counter-ion are petrochemical.

INCI namePolyquaternium-12
CAS68877-50-9
FunctionAntistatic · Film Forming
FeedstockA methacrylate copolymer in which one monomer carries…

How we scored it

Assuming an equal-molar terpolymer, three monomer units weigh 781 Da in total: abietyl methacrylate 356 Da, quaternised diethylaminoethyl methacrylate with its methosulfate counter-ion 311 Da, and ethyl methacrylate 114 Da. Natural origin is the rosin-derived abietyl alcohol group (271 Da) plus the sulfate part of the methosulfate (96.06 Da) = 367.06 Da, so 367.06/781 = 0.47.
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

A methacrylate copolymer in which one monomer carries an abietyl (pine rosin) alcohol group, copolymerised with diethylaminoethyl methacrylate and ethyl methacrylate and then quaternised with dimethyl sulfate. The monomer ratio is not published and was assumed roughly equal.

In plain English

A film-forming, hair-fixing polymer. Most of its structure comes from lab-made acrylate building blocks, though one component is derived from pine rosin, giving it a partial natural content.

CosIng definition: 2-Propenoic acid, 2-methyl-, [1,2,3,4,4a,4b,5,6,10,10a-decahydro-1,4a-dimethyl-7-(1-methylethyl)-1-phenanthrenyl]methyl ester [1r-(1alpha,4abeta,4balpha,10aalpha)]-, polymer with 2-(diethylamino)ethyl 2-methyl-2-propenoate, ethyl 2-methyl-2-propenoate, quaternised with dimethyl sulfate

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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. 2POLYQUATERNIUM-12. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3POLYQUATERNIUM-12. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=POLYQUATERNIUM-12