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Dear All,
I am having difficulty buying alcohol here in Greece, the government is messing things about for some reason and now we can only buy it in 400 mi squeezy bottles, we have choices of 70% with Glyceryl Cocoate, 93% with the same and/or maybe something else, 95% pure. The catch is that for some reason the 95% works out at about 20 Euroes a litre and the 70% with Glyceryl Cocoate at 2 Euroes a litre (one tenth the price). Glyceryl Cocoate is not the same as Glycerol, which can cause the hairs of bees and flies to stick together, but is it safe for flies????? Below is some info from a site selling ingredients to home soap makers.

Glyceryl Cocoate

INCI name: Peg 7 Glyceryl Cocoate
Nonionic Surfactant
Vegetable Derived

Glyceryl Cocoate is a nonionic surfactant derived from coconut that is used as an emulsifier and mildness additive. It behaves in a very similar manner to Polysorbate 80 but with a lot of added benefits. It is well suited for use in blooming bath oil applications, or for solubilising vegetable oils into surfactant systems.

As a stand alone surfactant it has a very low foam but exceptional mildness. In lab tests dermal application at a 50% concentration did not produce any irritation, and when injected under the skin at 10% it did not produce sensitisation, or prove to be an ocular irritant. This makes it an ideal choice for surfactants in gentle facial preparations such as make up removers where intimate application around the eye area is necessary. As a co-surfactant, Glycerol Cocoate can be added to formulations at a rate of 2-5% as an effective mildness additive, minimising the "stripping" effect some people feel when using soaps and detergents.

Glycerol Cocoate's most outstanding function is as a water soluble emollient. As a raw ingredient it has an oily texture, not that dissimilar to standard vegetable oils. When added to formulations it increases lubricity, leaving hair feeling conditioned and skin has a soft, cushioned feel. For soap makers, think of this ingredient as your superfatting agent, the ingredient that creates a milder, more moisturising product.


Well, can I use it.

Gordon

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No idea how it will work out. Test it...

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It sounds as though you would never get the flies dry again, so once they had been in this stuff you would not be able to look at dusting or see stripes in the thorax very clearly.

John

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You'd probably need acetone to get them dry, with all nasty repercussions...

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As it is both water and alcohol soluable surely it would not be dificult to wash out?

Gordon

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This stuff sounds like an after-shave lotion medium ! Otherwise, why would anyone use it to denaturate alcohol ?
You are right, though, it should be easy to rinse off as it is soluble in water and alcohol alike...
Philippe

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It is not aftershave, but a lotion for women to clean their faces of make-up with. such is the world we live in that alcohol for cosmetic use, or even for drinking is far cheaper than alchol for scientific use.

Gordon

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No answer, but just an additional question: Maybe 70% isopropanol would work as well? (In Germany 1l IPA (pure) cost about 6-7 Euro)

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here in Portugal is extremely easy to get alcohol. I bought 40 bottles of them... they are extremely cheap. The same for Ethyl acetate - I bought a 5 Liter bottle... it is enough. It doesn't need any authorization. Even you can buy them in supermarkets.... for 20 liters of ethanol it costs under 40 euros... ;)
Don't use acetone... it has very nast effects. :S

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Life is crazy,
Yesterday the manager of the National Park arrived with 15 litres of 70% alcohol which I had been told would be mixed with isopropanol. But it turned out to be absolute ethanol, so this problem is no longer a problem for me because I will be leaving before I need any more.

Gordon