Database/Cleansing/Sodium Lauroamphoacetate
Mostly natural · ISO 16128

Is Sodium Lauroamphoacetate natural?

Mostly. The lauroyl chain and the sodium counter-ion are natural origin; the amphoacetate head group is built from petrochemical aminoethylethanolamine and chloroacetic acid.

INCI nameSodium Lauroamphoacetate
CAS66161-62-4
FormulaC18H34N2NaO3+ · 349.5 Da
FunctionCleansing · Foaming
FeedstockCoconut lauric acid condensed with aminoethylethanolamine, then carboxymethylated…

How we scored it

Lauroyl C12H23O 183 Da (coconut, natural) + sodium 23 Da (mineral) = 206 Da; aminoethylethanolamine and chloroacetate fragments C6H12N2O3 160 Da (petrochemical) → 206 / 366 = 0.56.
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

Coconut lauric acid condensed with aminoethylethanolamine, then carboxymethylated with sodium chloroacetate; the same route as sodium cocoamphoacetate.

In plain English

A gentle amphoteric cleanser found in baby washes and sensitive-skin cleansers. Just over half of it comes from coconut fatty acid and mineral sodium; the rest is a petrochemical head group.

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Structure

2D structure of Sodium Lauroamphoacetate

sodium 2-[1-(2-hydroxyethyl)-2-undecyl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-1-ium-1-yl]acetate

PubChem CID 71308272 ↗

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 Lauroamphoacetate. PubChem CID 71308272. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3SODIUM LAUROAMPHOACETATE. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4SODIUM LAUROAMPHOACETATE. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=SODIUM%20LAUROAMPHOACETATE