Isoceteth-20 is a

polyethylene glycol Polyethylene glycol (PEG; ) is a polyether compound derived from petroleum with many applications, from industrial manufacturing to medicine. PEG is also known as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyoxyethylene (POE), depending on its molecular wei ...

ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group, a single oxygen atom bonded to two separate carbon atoms, each part of an organyl group (e.g., alkyl or aryl). They have the general formula , where R and R� ...

formed by the

ethoxylation In organic chemistry, ethoxylation is a chemical reaction in which ethylene oxide () adds to a substrate. It is the most widely practiced alkoxylation, which involves the addition of epoxides to substrates. In the usual application, alcoh ...

of iso-cetyl alcohol; with the general formula HO(C₂H₄O)_''n''C₁₆H₃₃ where ''n'' has an average value of 20. It is a

nonionic surfactant Surfactants are chemical compounds that decrease the surface tension or interfacial tension between two liquids, a liquid and a gas, or a liquid and a solid. The word ''surfactant'' is a blend of "surface-active agent", coined in 1950. As th ...

used as an

emulsifier An emulsion is a mixture of two or more liquids that are normally immiscible (unmixable or unblendable) owing to liquid-liquid phase separation. Emulsions are part of a more general class of two-phase systems of matter called colloids. Althou ...

in some personal care products.Isoceteth-20
at cosmeticanalysis.com However, as iso-cetyl alcohol is rare in nature isoceteth-20 does not see widespread use.

References

{{Reflist Cosmetics chemicals Ethers Non-ionic surfactants

See also

References