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Toxicity of Soyethyl morpholinium ethosulfate vs ColaQuat
I am currently experimenting with Soyethyl morpholinium ethosulfate (an odor masking agent).
From my research I was under the impression that is is very low to non toxic (it is used in sprays in medical environments etc) so if it gets in contact with the eyes, lungs/airways or skin it should not be particularly harmful.
It also, I suppose, depends on concentration.If I was to make my own odor masking spray using SME, plus perhaps some essential oils and maybe some pure ethanol to help aerial dispersal (it could be used to spray into the air as well as on to surfaces), should there be any real health concerns?
I recently received a sample ColaQuat by Colonial Chemical http://www.colonialchem.com/colaquat-pdq/ which stated that it is essentially SME and on the website it says ‘The product has been thoroughly tested by outside testing labs and found to have no potential for skin irritation and no potential for eye irritation, scoring a 1.5 on the HET CAM Eye test.’
When I received the actual sample there is a ‘hazard note’ which states goggles and gloves should be worn as it can ’cause serious eye and skin damage’.
I will approach and ask the company directly as well, but was just wondering what other people on this forum might say about SME as well as ColaQuat.
Is it harmful or not? Or is it only harmful if in pure, unconcentrated form. Thank you very much in advance for any answers!
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10 Replies
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I use the Croda equivalent product (Forestall) and it is classified as causing serious eye damage and irritating to skin in its concentrated form.
The Colonial product is actually Colaquat SME (http://www.colonialchem.com/fullpanel/uploads/files/colaquat%20sme%20tds.pdf) not the PDQ that you have linked to. The eye irritation testing was carried out at a concentration of 1.5% so at this concentration it is only slightly irritating to eyes.
So yes you will need to wear your PPE when handling the concentrated product but when diluted to less than 1.5% this product should not cause any problems.
Hope this helps.
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Forestall (SME) has been used for over 25 years by me and others in this forum. It is innocuous - don’t be scared. Weirdly, I recall that quat being one of the few “approved” for use in the Whole Foods listing.
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Thanks ozgirl and chemicalmatt!
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Just another question. If I was to make my own odor masking spray using any SME in it, and if I decided to sell it at my local flea market, would I have to declare what is in the spray on the label? I am not sure but SME is probably not classed as a ‘natural’ ingredient so perhaps I would have to declare it (by law?), correct?
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as it’s not a cosmetic, a medicine, a foodstuff or a detergent, it would most likely fall under the general legislation for chemicals and mixtures, so you probably wouldn’t have to declare ingredients on the pack
you’ll have to double check this though; I’m no expert in US law
if the mixture is hazardous, you would have to declare those hazards on the pack in a manner prescribed by the relevant legislation and the GHS (Globally Harmonised System of Classification and Labelling of Chemicals)
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A very close relative of this material is cetyl ethyl morpholinium ethosulfate (the difference is the chain distribution of the hydrophobe). It is/used to be called G263 (Atlas Powder Company).
Several years ago I had a call for help from a manufacturer whose air freshener sprays had a metallic “off” odour and failure of the pump mechanism after a fairly short period after first use.
Without going into unnecessary detail, it turned out that the liquid spray in contact with the metallic parts of the pump mechanism was causing severe corrosion such that the spring in the actuator was destroyed after about six weeks in contact with the spray liquid and there was severe pitting on the surface of the ball bearing.
The product was stable during storage as the pumps were not primed after filling and there was little or no liquid/mechanism contact prior to first use.
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Thank you Bill Toge for the useful answer, I will look into that! Thank you johnb for the interesting story about corrosion. I am planning to use plastic pump spray bottles, hopefully there will be no problem.
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All pump spray bottles have to use metallic springs for part of the mechanism. You might want to look into BOV (Bag-On-Valve) technology instead.
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Thank you Bobzchemist, will do.
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corrosion shouldn’t be a problem if the spring is made from good quality stainless steel - you’ll just have to try it and see
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