Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating General Why molecular weight of cetearyl alcohol is 512.94 instead of ~250

  • ketchito

    Member
    February 7, 2023 at 8:17 am

    @Abdullah I found the same issue few weeks ago, but it might be a wrong source of information. As you mentioned, there’s no way it’s over 270 g/mol.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  ketchito.
  • fareloz

    Member
    February 7, 2023 at 10:59 am

    I think they just added two masses like it is one molecule. But as I understand cetearyl alcohol is not a molecule but a mix of ingredients? I am not a chemist and I am not sure if molecular weight can be applied to a mix of ingredients?

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  fareloz.
  • Perry44

    Administrator
    February 7, 2023 at 12:44 pm

    Yeah, I think this is just an error. These brochures are usually put together by people who don’t have a chemistry background.

    • fareloz

      Member
      February 7, 2023 at 1:21 pm

      I just googled “what molecural weight has cetearyl alcohol” and every website claims it has 512+…

      • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  fareloz.
      • Perry44

        Administrator
        February 7, 2023 at 2:45 pm

        I asked ChatGPT and it said…

        The molecular weight of cetearyl alcohol is 392.62 g/mol.

        I don’t think that is correct either.

        More from ChatGPT -

        The sum of the molecular weights of cetyl alcohol (C16H32O) and stearyl alcohol (C18H38O) is approximately 410 g/mol.

        To calculate this, we first need to determine the atomic weight of each element in the molecule and then multiply it by the number of atoms of that element in the molecule. The atomic weights of carbon (C), hydrogen (H), and oxygen (O) can be taken from the periodic table.

        For cetyl alcohol, the molecular weight is:

        16 (C) * 12.01 (atomic weight of C) + 32 (H) * 1.01 (atomic weight of H) + 1 (O) * 16 (atomic weight of O) = 192.48 g/mol

        For stearyl alcohol, the molecular weight is:

        18 (C) * 12.01 (atomic weight of C) + 38 (H) * 1.01 (atomic weight of H) + 1 (O) * 16 (atomic weight of O) = 218.36 g/mol

        Finally, the sum of the molecular weights of cetyl alcohol and stearyl alcohol is:

        192.48 + 218.36 = 410.84 g/mol

        Note: This is an approximate value, and the actual molecular weight of cetearyl alcohol may slightly vary depending on its specific composition.

        So, I think the average molecular weight is (x)192.48 + (y)(218.36)
        In this case x = fraction of cetyl alcohol and y = fraction of stearyl alcohol

        • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Perry44.
        • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Perry44.
        • fareloz

          Member
          February 7, 2023 at 2:52 pm

          I see your point, but could you explain how it actually should be calculated? I tried to search what is molar mass (I still suspect molecular weight is wrong term since as I understand cetearyl alcohol is a mix of two substances in some ratio) of mixes but can’t find easy answer.

          • Perry44

            Administrator
            February 7, 2023 at 2:54 pm

            See my edited previous comment. The calculation is in the last paragraph.

  • fareloz

    Member
    February 7, 2023 at 5:34 pm

    I see you’re into neural network these days. Try stable diffusion network (there are many tutorials on YouTube, search dream booth). It can generate photo of you in any amplua by textual description. Makes appearance even better than Glycerin 😄

    P.S. my avatar is generated by this NN.

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  fareloz.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  fareloz.
  • Abdullah

    Member
    February 8, 2023 at 1:09 am

    @Perry Sorry but when i calculated the molecular weight of cetyl and stearyl alcohol from their atomic weight, it was 242.44116 & 270.49432 . Are you sure there is no mistake in your calculation?

    Then some new questions.


    1. Is cetearyl alcohol a new molecule by itself or just a mixture of two other molecules?
    2. Why did you sum the molecular weight of cetyl and stearyl to get the molecular weight of cetearyl alcohol?
    3. If in a formula we add 1% ceyl alcohol & 1% stearyl alcohol, would it be the same as 2% cetearyl alcohol 50:50?
    In this lecture the instructor says molecular weight of cetearyl alcohol is 250, and it is the weight of cetearyl alcohol 70:30 if we calculate it from atomic weight. What is your comment on this one?
    https://youtu.be/TYFDRkRclK0

    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Perry44.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Perry44.
    • This reply was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by  Perry44.
    • ketchito

      Member
      February 9, 2023 at 7:26 am

      @Abdullah Your molar weights for both Cetyl and Stearyl alcohol are correct. Perry used the values ChatGPT gave him, but what he wanted to show is how to calculate the average molecular weight for Cetearyl alcohol using mole fractions of Cetyl and Stearyl alcohol.

      You do not sum the molecular weight of Cetyl and Stearyl alcohol, since they are independent molecules present in the mixture (they are not a dimer, in which case the addition would be valid).

      The instructor in your video (Dr. Ricardo Diez) uses a value of 250 g/mol for Cetearyl alcohol since he’s considering a 50/50 mixture (it should be around 256 g/mol, but he doesn’t need to be precise to show how to make those calculations, nor that the difference would change his results much).

      • Abdullah

        Member
        February 9, 2023 at 9:47 am

        Got it

        Thanks a lot

  • Abdullah

    Member
    February 8, 2023 at 1:14 am

    It becomes a big problem when making LGN and calculating moles of fatty alcohol.

    There is a bit difference. Almond two time.

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