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Questions about Urea.
Hi,
I have a few questions about Urea.
1) Is it hard to “stabilize”?
- Does it degrade or precipitate? Under what conditions?
- Does it always change the pH of a product? Are there ingredients to add to prevent pH shifts?2) Is there any difference at all between the various forms of Urea: Hydroxyethl, Imidazolidinyl, Diazolidinyl, and Urea USP?
- Is one form more stable/easier to work with than others?
- Do ALL forms of Urea release formaldehyde?Thanks for your time.
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5 Replies
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1) Is it hard to “stabilize”?
Yes
- Does it degrade or precipitate? Under what conditions?
It degrades. Water and temperature presence are enough.
- Does it always change the pH of a product? Are there ingredients to add to prevent pH shifts?
Yes. You need to add a buffer system2) Is there any difference at all between the various forms of Urea: Hydroxyethl, Imidazolidinyl, Diazolidinyl, and Urea USP?
Not every compound with “urea” in the name is urea! Check the molecule to understand.
- Is one form more stable/easier to work with than others?
Urea is only one.
- Do ALL forms of Urea release formaldehyde?
Probably -
@em88 thanks for your valuable information .
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em88 said:- Does it degrade or precipitate? Under what conditions?
It degrades. Water and temperature presence are enough.that’s a new one on me - amides like urea are usually stable unless you have a lot of alkali presentjust out of interest, what does it degrade to?- Do ALL forms of Urea release formaldehyde?
Probablyonly urea/formaldehyde condensates, e.g. imidazolyl urea, do this -
Bill_Toge said:that’s a new one on me - amides like urea are usually stable unless you have a lot of alkali present
There are many articles that mention a degradation of urea in NH3 and CO2.
I’ve noticed myself an increasement of pH over time.
In creams is even easier to spot the bubbles of CO2.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25043489
Indeed, taking in consideration that there are covalent bonds, urea should be stable, but in my experience urea was not stable.Bill_Toge said:only urea/formaldehyde condensates, e.g. imidazolyl urea, do thisMy mistake, was thinking about something else.
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Thank you, @Bill_Toge.
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