glycolic acid CAS 79-14-1, glycolic acid, CAS 79-14-1
In the rich and colorful world of chemistry, there is a substance that attracts much attention - glycolic acid. It is also known as 2-glycolic acid, or hydroacetic acid, glycolic acid. From its name, it can be known that it has a unique chemical structure.
79-14-1
C2H4O3
76.05
201-180-5
Chemical Name | Glycolic acid |
Other Name | The ordinary glycolic acid; Glycolic acid the ordinary; Glycolic; Glycolic acid for skin; Hydroacetic acid; Hydroxyacetic acid |
CAS | 79-14-1 |
EINECS | 201-180-5 |
Type | Pharmaceutical, pesticide, dye intermediates; Cosmetic raw materials |
Molecular Formula | C2H4O3 |
Molecular Weight | 76.05 |
Melting point | 75-80 °C (lit.) |
Boiling point | 112 °C |
density | 1.25 g/mL at 25 °C |
vapor pressure | 10.8 hPa (80 °C) |
refractive index | n20/D 1.424 |
Fp | 112°C |
storage temp. | Store below +30°C. |
solubility | H2O: 0.1 g/mL, clear |
pka | 3.83(at 25℃) |
form | Solution |
color | White to off-white |
PH | 2 (50g/l, H2O, 20℃) |
Water Solubility | SOLUBLE |
Sensitive | Hygroscopic |
Stability: | Stable. Incompatible with bases, oxidizing agents and reducing agents. |
In the rich and colorful world of chemistry, there is a substance that attracts much attention - glycolic acid. It is also known as 2-glycolic acid, or hydroacetic acid, glycolic acid. From its name, it can be known that it has a unique chemical structure. Glycolic acid is essentially a carboxylic acid. In the field of chemical analysis and the vast territory of organic synthesis, it plays an indispensable role. It is often used as a precise analytical reagent and an important organic raw material, providing crucial support and guarantee for many chemical reactions and analytical processes.
Glycolic acid holds a special position in the family of organic acids. It is the smallest α -hydroxy acid (AHA), and this characteristic enables it to demonstrate unique advantages and broad application potential in numerous fields. In today's era of pursuing beauty, the skincare field is particularly fond of glycolic acid. It is mainly ingeniously applied in various skin care products as a highly valuable supplementary ingredient, dedicated to enhancing the overall appearance quality of the skin and making it radiate a healthier and more charming glow. It is like a "beauty magician" for the skin, having a remarkable effect on reducing wrinkles, a sign of aging, and enabling the skin to regain firmness and smoothness. For the problem of acne marks that troubles many people, it can also play an effective repair role, helping the skin regain its smoothness and luster. In terms of improving pigmentation, glycolic acid also performs well, being able to even out skin tone and make the skin appear naturally fair and transparent.
Not only does glycolic acid shine brightly in the field of skin care, but it also has its own place on the vast stage of the fabric market. It can play the role of a dye excellently by virtue of its unique chemical properties, endowing fabrics with rich and bright colors. At the same time, it can also serve as a tanning agent to enhance the softness, toughness and durability of fabrics, improve the quality and texture of fabrics, and meet people's demands for high-quality textiles.
In the food processing industry, glycolic acid can participate in a unique way, serving as a representative of flavoring agents, adding distinctive flavors and textures to food and enriching people's dining experience. In the rigorous field of the pharmaceutical industry, it has transformed into a representative ingredient in skin care. With its own characteristics, it has contributed to the skin care efficacy of numerous drug preparations and helped solve various skin-related health problems.
In addition, glycolic acid also plays a positive role in many links of chemical production. It can be added to emulsion polymers and, through the synergistic effect with other components, effectively enhance the stability and performance of the emulsion. In the solvent system, it can optimize various indicators of the solvent with its good solubility and compatibility. When used as an ink additive, it can significantly enhance the fluidity and gloss of the ink, making the printing effect more outstanding. It can play an important role in packaging printing, publishing printing and other industrial printing fields.
It is worth mentioning that glycolic acid is also an extremely useful natural synthetic intermediate. In the complex and ever-changing world of chemical reactions, it actively participates in REDOX reactions and realizes the transformation and synthesis of substances during the process of electron transfer. In esterification reactions, it can combine with other alcohol or acid substances to generate ester compounds with different properties, expanding the path and product range of organic synthesis. In terms of long-chain polymerization reactions, it, with its unique structural characteristics, participates as a key unit in the formation process of polymer chains, providing a foundation and possibility for the synthesis of high-performance and multifunctional polymer materials.
In terms of source, glycolic acid, as an α -hydroxy acid, is mainly obtained through careful extraction from sugarcane. Sugarcane, a widely cultivated crop, can provide a rich raw material basis for the preparation of glycolic acid after a series of scientific and rigorous extraction processes.
The molecular structure of glycolic acid is simple and exquisite, and its molecular weight is relatively small, which endows it with many unique physical and chemical properties. It is non-toxic and odorless, like a "behind-the-scenes hero" who makes silent contributions. When in contact with the skin or in other application scenarios, it does not cause any irritating burden. It has extremely strong permeability, as if it possesses a "key" that can unlock the microscopic world of substances. It can easily penetrate the surface layer of the skin or the barriers of other substances and delve into the interior to exert its effect. Moreover, while it exerts outstanding efficacy, it does not cause damage to the barrier function of the epidermis. It is like a gentle and professional "guardian", achieving improvement and repair of the skin under the premise of protecting skin health.
For this reason, glycolic acid peeling has become a brand-new trend in the field of beauty and skin care in recent years. Its mechanism of action is like a carefully choreographed "cellular dance". By ingeniously interfering with the binding force on the cell surface, it is like loosening the "rope" that tightly connects the cells, weakening the adhesion force between keratinocytes, thereby accelerating the natural shedding and renewal process of epidermal cells. At the same time, it can also act like a "commander", stimulating the synthesis of collagen in the dermis, stimulating the skin's own repair and regeneration capabilities, enhancing the skin's moisture retention function, and keeping the skin always hydrated and elastic.
The hydroxyl group in glycolic acid molecules is undoubtedly one of its "secret weapons". This hydroxyl group has a powerful water absorption capacity, just like an efficient "sponge", capable of absorbing and locking in the surrounding moisture. When glycolic acid penetrates the dermis, it not only promotes the production of the skin's own natural moisturizing factors, but also forms a stable moisturizing environment inside the skin, thus having a significant moisturizing effect. Moreover, there is a clear correlation between the permeability of glycolic acid and its concentration. The higher the concentration, the longer it stays on the skin, and the stronger its permeability will be, and the more significant the effect will be. This provides a scientific basis and practical guidance for people to adjust the use of glycolic acid according to different needs in practical applications.
In today's chemical industry, glycolic acid plays an extremely important role and can be used as a key raw material to prepare high-molecular-weight polyglycolic acid. This high-molecular-weight polyglycolic acid has demonstrated unique application value and broad development prospects in numerous fields.
It is not difficult for us to find that in daily life, those standard polymer products, such as various animal-derived products, common polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), and polystyrene (PS), etc., have been deeply integrated into the lives of ordinary people, bringing great convenience to their lives. From various packaging materials and daily necessities used in daily life to various components in industrial production, these polymer products are everywhere. They not only meet various needs of People's Daily lives, but also play an indispensable and important role in the process of social and economic development, becoming an indispensable part of modern life.
However, with the wide application of these polymer products, some problems have gradually emerged. Due to the fact that in the actual usage process, the recycling and utilization of these polymer products are not complete, there is a large amount of waste that has not been effectively treated and reused. Moreover, considering the inherent properties of these polymers, their degradability on a global scale is relatively insufficient, and some are even difficult to degrade in the natural environment. This has led to a serious problem of "white air pollution". A large amount of plastic waste accumulates in the natural environment, not only affecting the beauty of the environment, but also causing serious damage to ecosystems such as soil, water bodies and air, threatening the survival and reproduction of many organisms.
With the continuous improvement of the cultural level of human society, people's emphasis on environmental protection is also increasing day by day. Against such a backdrop, many countries and regions have come to realize the severity of the problem and have actually jointly issued a series of strict "plastic restriction orders". The introduction of these policies aims to encourage and promote researchers to intensify their research and development efforts on degradable and environmentally friendly polymer materials, in order to seek a new type of material that can replace traditional plastics, thereby fundamentally solving the thorny environmental problem of "white air pollution". Therefore, the development of degradable and environmentally friendly polymer materials to replace traditional non-degradable polymer materials has become an important research direction in the current scientific research field, attracting the attention and investment of many scientific researchers.
Glycolic acid, as an important chemical resource, has a very wide range of applications. In the field of chemical production, it is widely used as a raw material for the production of important chemical substances such as ethylene glycol, menthol glycolate and quinine glycolate. These products have crucial applications in many industries such as medicine, spices and cosmetics, providing a solid foundation for the development of related industries.
In addition to its application in chemical production, glycolic acid also plays a unique role in other fields. In the leather industry, it can serve as a representative agent for leather making, helping to improve the quality and performance of leather, making it softer and more durable. In the field of hairdressing, glycolic acid is used in hair dyes, which can effectively change the color of hair while causing relatively less damage to it. In the textile printing and dyeing industry, it can serve as an important component of natural leather dyes and fiber dyes, endowing leather and fiber products with rich colors. In terms of material bonding, glycolic acid can be used as a key raw material for adhesives to enhance the strength and stability of the bonding. In the field of metal processing, it can also serve as a representative chelating agent for steel, an oil demulsifier, an electroplating agent, and an etching agent for aluminum plates, etc., which helps to enhance the efficiency and quality of metal processing.
In addition, glycolic acid also plays an important role in the treatment of cellulose materials. It can be used as a crosslinking agent for cellulose materials to enhance their performance. As a representative agent in the electro-polishing process of stainless steel, it can make the surface of stainless steel smoother and brighter. Meanwhile, glycolic acid can also be used as a cleaning agent, disinfectant, boiler scale inhibitor, and surface treatment agent for copper and other steels, playing an important role in cleaning and protection in industrial production and daily life. For instance, in food processing plants, glycolic acid can be used for cleaning and disinfecting equipment to ensure the hygiene and safety of food production. In livestock farms and sheds and other places, it can also be used for disinfection and cleaning, creating a good living environment for livestock and poultry. In addition, in the formulation of skin care cosmetics, glycolic acid also has extensive applications and can provide various care benefits for the skin.
It is worth mentioning that the mechanism of action of glycolic acid in the field of skin care is particularly unique. When glycolic acid acts on the skin, it mainly accelerates the shedding and renewal of skin cells by destroying the binding force on the cell surface and reducing the adhesion of keratinocytes. This process helps remove the aged stratum corneum on the skin surface, making the skin smoother and more delicate. Meanwhile, glycolic acid can also promote the synthesis of facial collagen, enhance the elasticity and moisturizing function of the skin. This is because the hydroxyl groups in glycolic acid have a strong water absorption capacity, which can adsorb and retain a large amount of moisture, keeping the skin hydrated. Moreover, when this material penetrates the dermis, it can further promote the production of natural moisturizing elements, thereby playing a deep hydrating role and allowing the skin to radiate a healthy glow from the inside out.