Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate is a chemical compound used primarily as a surfactant in personal care products such as shampoos, bubble baths, and facial cleansers.
The name describes the structure of the molecule:
- Sodium indicates the presence of sodium, a chemical element. In the context of surfactants, sodium is used to form salts with organic compounds.
- Myristoyl refers to the fatty acid derived from myristic acid. This indicates that the compound is a derivative of myristic fatty acid, commonly found in natural sources like coconut oil and palm kernel oil.
- Sarcosinate refers to sarcosinate, a functional group derived from sarcosine, an amino acid. Sarcosinates are known for their gentle cleansing and foaming properties.
Raw Materials Used in the Production of Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate and Their Functions
Origin. Derived from natural fatty acids of palm or coconut oil.
Palm/Coconut Fatty Acids provide the lipid base, essential for surfactant formation.
Sarcosine. A derivative of a natural amino acid, contributes to foam formation and gentleness of the product.
Sodium. Used to neutralize and stabilize the formula, turning the mixture into a usable salt in skin and hair care products.
Industrial Production Process
- Extraction. Fatty acids are extracted from palm or coconut oil.
- Reaction. The fatty acids are then combined with sarcosine to form sarcosinate.
- Neutralization. The compound is neutralized with sodium to form Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate.
- Purification. The final product is purified to remove any impurities and optimize quality.
- Quality Control. Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate undergoes quality testing to ensure purity, efficacy, and safety.
Form and Color
Sodium Myristoyl Sarcosinate generally appears as a viscous, clear or slightly yellow liquid.
What it is for and where
Used in skin and hair care products, such as shampoos, body washes, and facial cleansers.
Cosmetics - INCI Functions
Antistatic agent. Static electricity build-up has a direct influence on products and causes electrostatic adsorption. The antistatic ingredient reduces static build-up and surface resistivity on the surface of the skin and hair.
Cleansing agent. Ingredient that cleanses skin without exploiting the surface-active properties that produce a lowering of the surface tension of the stratum corneum.
Foaming. Its function is to introduce gas bubbles into the water for a purely aesthetic factor, which does not affect the cleaning process, but only satisfies the commercial aspect of the detergent by helping to spread the detergent. This helps in the commercial success of a cleansing formulation. Since sebum has an inhibiting action on the bubble, more foam is produced in the second shampoo. In practice, it creates many small bubbles of air or other gases within a small volume of liquid, changing the surface tension of the liquid.
Hair conditioning agent. A significant number of ingredients with specific and targeted purposes may co-exist in hair shampoo formulations: cleansers, conditioners, thickeners, matting agents, sequestering agents, fragrances, preservatives, special additives. However, the indispensable ingredients are the cleansers and conditioners as they are necessary and sufficient for hair cleansing and manageability. The others act as commercial and non-essential auxiliaries such as: appearance, fragrance, colouring, etc. Hair conditioning agents have the task of increasing shine, manageability and volume, and reducing static electricity, especially after treatments such as colouring, ironing, waving, drying and brushing. They are, in practice, dispersants that may contain cationic surfactants, thickeners, emollients, polymers. The typology of hair conditioning agents includes: intensive conditioners, instant conditioners, thickening conditioners, drying conditioners. They can perform their task generally accompanied by other different ingredients.
Surfactant - Cleansing agent. Cosmetic products used to cleanse the skin utilise the surface-active action that produces a lowering of the surface tension of the stratum corneum, facilitating the removal of dirt and impurities.
Viscosity control agent. It controls and adapts, Increasing or decreasing, viscosity to the required level for optimal chemical and physical stability of the product and dosage in gels, suspensions, emulsions, solutions.
Safety
In general, according to a 2001 study, sarcosinates are not irritants and do not sensitize animal or human skin, although they may enhance the penetration of other ingredients through the skin. Therefore, care should be taken when formulating cosmetic products that contain these ingredients in combination with other ingredients. Available data are insufficient to support the safety of acylsarcosines and sarcosinates as cosmetic ingredients in products where they are likely to be inhaled (1).
A more updated study from 2021 finds that these ingredients are safe as used in cosmetics when formulated to be non-irritant, but they should not be used in cosmetic products in which N-nitrous compounds may be formed (2).
 |  |
Molecular Formula C17H32NNaO3
Molecular Weight 321.43065
CAS 30364-51-3
EC number 250-151-3
UNII J07237209D
DTXSID7042013
Sinonimi :
- N-(Sodiooxycarbonylmethyl)-N-methylmyristamide
- 2-(N-methyltetradecanoylamino)acetic acid, sodium salt
- Glycine, N-methyl-N-(1-oxotetradecyl)-, sodium salt
- N-Myristoylsarcosine acid, sodium salt
