General Description
Synonyms: Alcohol stearylicus; Cachalot; Crodacol S95; Hyfatol 18-95; Hyfatol 18-98; Lanette 18; Lipocol S; Lipocol S-DEO; Nacol 18- 98; Nacol 18-98P; n-octadecanol; octadecyl alcohol; Rita SA; Speziol C18 Pharma; Stearol; Stenol; Tego Alkanol 18; Vegarol 1898.
Description: Stearyl alcohol occurs as hard, white, waxy pieces, flakes, or granules with a slight characteristic odor and bland taste.
Chemical Name: 1-Octadecanol
Uses
Stearyl alcohol is used in cosmetics and topical pharmaceutical creams and ointments as a stiffening agent.
By increasing the viscosity of an emulsion, stearyl alcohol increases its stability.
Stearyl alcohol also has some emollient and weak emulsifying properties, and is used to increase the water-holding capacity of ointments, e.g. petrolatum.
In addition, stearyl alcohol has been used in controlled-release tablets, suppositories, and microspheres.
It has also been investigated for use as a transdermal penetration enhancer.
Incompatibilities
Incompatible with strong oxidizing agents and strong acids.
Safety
Stearyl alcohol is generally considered to be an innocuous, nontoxic material. However, adverse reactions to stearyl alcohol present in topical preparations have been reported. These include contact urticaria and hypersensitivity reactions, which are possibly due to impurities contained in stearyl alcohol rather than stearyl alcohol itself
Handling Precautions
Observe normal precautions appropriate to the circumstances and quantity of material handled. Eye protection and gloves are recommended. Stearyl alcohol is not a fire hazard, although it will burn and may give off noxious fumes containing carbon monoxide.
Related Substances
Cetostearyl alcohol; cetyl alcohol.