Database/Absorbent/Sodium Polyacrylate Starch
Half & half · ISO 16128

Is Sodium Polyacrylate Starch natural?

Half and half. The starch backbone is natural and the sodium counter-ion on every acrylate unit is a mineral, so the grafted portion is not entirely petrochemical. Only the acrylic acid carbon skeleton is petrochemical.

INCI nameSodium Polyacrylate Starch
FunctionAbsorbent · Binding
FeedstockMade by graft-polymerising acrylic acid and sodium acrylate…

How we scored it

Assuming a typical one-third starch to two-thirds sodium polyacrylate mass ratio: the starch share is fully natural, and the sodium acrylate repeat unit C3H3O2Na weighs 94.04 Da of which the sodium counter-ion is 22.99 Da, so that share is 0.24 natural. Overall 0.333 + 0.667 x 0.245 = 0.50.
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 graft-polymerising acrylic acid and sodium acrylate onto a natural starch backbone, then neutralising with sodium hydroxide. The starch-to-acrylate ratio is not standardised and varies by supplier, so a typical superabsorbent ratio was assumed.

In plain English

An absorbent, film-forming powder made by attaching synthetic acrylate polymer chains onto natural starch. Used as a thickener and absorbent; roughly a third of its weight is plant starch, the rest synthetic.

CosIng definition: 2-Propenoic acid, sodium salt, homopolymer, polymer with starch (graft)

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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. 2SODIUM POLYACRYLATE STARCH. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  3. 3SODIUM POLYACRYLATE STARCH. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=SODIUM%20POLYACRYLATE%20STARCH