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  • Question On Glycols

    Posted by Anonymous on August 8, 2017 at 9:47 pm

    Hello Chemist Corner,

    I read somewhere that glycols such as propylene, ethylene, etc denature proteins and causes wrinkles. Is that true or false? 

    Thank You, Persona

    oldperry replied 6 years, 7 months ago 5 Members · 9 Replies
  • 9 Replies
  • belassi

    Member
    August 8, 2017 at 10:11 pm

    Where did you read this?

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    August 8, 2017 at 10:58 pm

    I read about on some website that listed ingredients to avoid. then i googled it myself, but did not really understand so I decided to come to this forum and ask.

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    August 8, 2017 at 10:59 pm
  • oldperry

    Member
    August 9, 2017 at 2:06 am

    False. They are humectants. They help moisturize skin. They don’t cause wrinkles

  • davidw

    Member
    August 9, 2017 at 1:50 pm

    Never heard such a thing

  • drbobverdient-biz

    Member
    August 9, 2017 at 2:51 pm

    That has to be completely false info!

  • Anonymous

    Guest
    August 10, 2017 at 4:29 pm

    @Perry @DRBOB@VERDIENT.BIZ @DavidW Thanks guys so much for your responses. So just to be clear glycols are not used as protein denaturants in science right?

  • lewhitak

    Member
    August 10, 2017 at 5:18 pm

    Glycerol increases protein stability and solubility when creating protein solutions in the lab.

  • oldperry

    Member
    August 10, 2017 at 6:44 pm

    @Persona - I think you are misunderstanding the term “glycols”.  There are potentially tens of thousands of ingredients that could be considered glycols. Glycol just means it contains at least two -OH groups attached to different carbon atoms.  

    So, Ethylene Glycol, Propylene Glycol and Polyethylene Glycol are all glycols but they do not chemically behave the same. It’s a bit like saying bananas and oranges are the same because they are fruits.

    Ethylene glycol can be used to denature specific proteins but not keratin. Propylene glycol might help denature DNA under certain circumstances. 

    But when used in skin care “glycols” are not skin protein denaturants. Instead they are good moisturizing ingredients.

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