What is it?
An emollient and solvent made by joining carbonic acid to two molecules of caprylyl alcohol, an eight-carbon fatty alcohol. It softens skin and acts as a solvent for other ingredients, and it is used mostly in leave-on products, including skin care, eye shadow and other makeup, suntan sprays and hair products. It belongs to the dialkyl carbonates, a small family of skin-conditioning ingredients.
Key information
- The CIR Expert Panel concluded in 2016 that dicaprylyl carbonate is safe as used when formulated to be non-irritating.
- In 2016 it was reported in 384 cosmetic products, at up to 34.5 percent in eye shadow.
- A product with about 31 percent caused no irritation or allergic sensitization in a repeat patch test of 108 people.
- In the EU's chemical classification inventory, company notifications report that it does not meet the criteria for any hazard classification.
More information
Dicaprylyl carbonate is the diester of carbonic acid and caprylyl alcohol. The commercial grade tested for the safety review was 96.6 percent pure, a mix of carbonates with 6-, 8- and 10-carbon chains, and no impurities were detected in it.
The Cosmetic Ingredient Review (CIR) Expert Panel reviewed six dialkyl carbonates in 2016 and concluded they are safe in the present practices of use and concentration when formulated to be non-irritating. Dicaprylyl carbonate was the most widely used, in 384 products at up to 34.5 percent. In rats, the lethal oral and skin doses were above 5 g per kilogram, and 13 weeks of daily oral doses up to 1,000 mg per kilogram caused no effects. It was not mutagenic or clastogenic in laboratory tests and did not cause allergic sensitization in guinea pigs. It was slightly irritating to rabbit skin and eyes, but the undiluted material caused no reactions in 20 volunteers under a 24-hour occlusive patch, and a product with about 31 percent caused no irritation or sensitization in a repeat patch test of 108 people.
The panel’s main caution was irritation, since some carbonates in the group irritated animal skin. In a four-week use test of a face, body and hair oil with about 31 percent dicaprylyl carbonate, some women had redness or flaking, mostly where it was used on the hair, and the authors judged its irritation potential on the face and body to be very low.
In the EU’s classification inventory, all company notifications summarized by PubChem report that it does not meet the criteria for any hazard classification. On labels it appears as dicaprylyl carbonate.
Sources: Cosmetic Ingredient Review: Safety assessment of dialkyl carbonates as used in cosmetics (final report, 2016); PubChem: Dicaprylyl carbonate (CID 9904000), GHS classification
