Database/Preservative/Sodium Butylparaben
Mostly petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Sodium Butylparaben natural?

Mostly not. Petrochemical p-hydroxybenzoate esterified with butanol; only the sodium counter-ion is mineral-derived natural mass.

INCI nameSodium Butylparaben
CAS36457-20-2
FormulaC11H13NaO3 · 216.21 Da
FunctionPreservative
FeedstockMade by esterifying petrochemical 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (from phenol/toluene)…

How we scored it

Butylparaben moiety (petrochemical phenol ester) C11H13O3 193 Da = 0; Na+ counter-ion (mineral, natural) 23 Da -> 23/216.21=0.11.
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 esterifying petrochemical 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (from phenol/toluene) with n-butanol, then neutralizing with sodium hydroxide. No natural feedstock route exists commercially.

In plain English

A preservative that stops mold and bacteria growing in cosmetics. It's the sodium salt of butylparaben, made synthetically from petrochemical phenol and butanol.

CosIng definition: Sodium Butylparaben is the sodium salt of Butylparaben that conforms to the formula:

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Structure

2D structure of Sodium Butylparaben

sodium 4-butoxycarbonylphenolate

PubChem CID 23671890 ↗

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. 2Sodium Butylparaben. PubChem CID 23671890. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3SODIUM BUTYLPARABEN. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4SODIUM BUTYLPARABEN. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=SODIUM%20BUTYLPARABEN