Database/Antioxidant/Thioglycolic Acid
100% petroleum · ISO 16128

Is Thioglycolic Acid natural?

No. Every carbon traces to chloroacetic acid, an explicitly petrochemical building block with no natural-sourcing route.

INCI nameThioglycolic Acid
CAS68-11-1
FormulaC2H4O2S · 92.12 Da
FunctionAntioxidant · Depilatory
FeedstockManufactured by reacting chloroacetic acid with sodium hydrosulfide,…

How we scored it

HSCH2COOH built entirely from petrochemical chloroacetic acid plus sodium hydrosulfide; no natural-origin fragment retained in the product.
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.

How it’s made

SN2 of hydrosulfide on chloroacetate, then acid work-up. Each curved arrow moves one electron pair, and the film ends on the score above.

Where it comes from

Manufactured by reacting chloroacetic acid with sodium hydrosulfide, then acidifying; both inputs are synthetic or mineral-processing chemicals. No commercially significant natural route exists.

In plain English

A reducing chemical used in perm and hair-straightening formulas, and as an antioxidant. It's made entirely from synthetic petrochemical starting materials, with no natural sourcing option.

CosIng definition: Thioglycolic Acid is the organic acid that conforms generally to the formula:

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Structure

2D structure of Thioglycolic Acid

2-sulfanylacetic acid

PubChem CID 1133 ↗

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. 2Thioglycolic Acid. PubChem CID 1133. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3THIOGLYCOLIC ACID. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4THIOGLYCOLIC ACID. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=THIOGLYCOLIC%20ACID