Database/Skin Conditioning/Retinal
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Retinal natural?

No. Manufactured through the same synthetic petrochemical route as synthetic retinol, per this site's convention.

INCI nameRetinal
CAS116-31-4
FormulaC20H28O · 284.4 Da
FunctionSkin Conditioning
FeedstockCommercial retinal is manufactured by multi-step chemical synthesis…

How we scored it

Vitamin A aldehyde built via beta-ionone/Wittig synthesis from petrochemical terpenoid intermediates → 0/total = 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

Commercial retinal is manufactured by multi-step chemical synthesis from petrochemical beta-ionone, the same route used for synthetic vitamin A. It is not extracted from animal liver at commercial scale.

In plain English

A vitamin A derivative used to condition skin and support cell turnover. Commercial retinal is manufactured through multi-step chemical synthesis from petrochemical building blocks, not extracted from animal sources.

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Structure

2D structure of Retinal

(2E,4E,6E,8E)-3,7-dimethyl-9-(2,6,6-trimethylcyclohexen-1-yl)nona-2,4,6,8-tetraenal

PubChem CID 638015 ↗

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. 2Retinal. PubChem CID 638015. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3RETINAL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4RETINAL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=RETINAL