Benzalkonium Chloride is well-known antiseptics and have a long history of use in topical products such as hand sanitizers, antiseptic liquids, creams, and gels. They act on a wide range of microorganisms, including enveloped viruses, from gram+ and gram-bacteria, moulds and yeasts.
Our FeF Benzalkonium Chloride is colourless and odourless in finished product formulation, and its effectiveness in all pH ranges combined with its ability to mix well in both aqueous and oily phases, make them an ideal antimicrobial ingredient.
Applications
No matter the application, for formulations coming into contact with healthy or damaged epithelial tissue, it is necessary to utilize only the purest and safest ingredients.
All our FeF Benzalkonium Chloride products are widely used in both human and veterinary topicals. Skin cleansing solutions: FeF Benzalkonium Chloride (BKC) is used for cleansing skin, mucous membranes, and wounds with a concentration of 0.01 to 0.1%.
Hand sanitizers: Typically, the concentration of FeF Benzalkonium Chloride (BKC) in hand sanitizers is a maximum of 2% w/w. Standard concentrations in finished products normally vary between 0.5% and 1.5% w/w, and more dilute solutions are suitable for irrigation of deep wounds.
Antiseptic creams: FeF Benzalkonium Chloride (BKC) is often found in antiseptic creams used in the treatment of nappy rash, eczema, psoriasis, acne and other dermatoses at concentrations varying from 0.1 to 1%.
Hair products: FeF Benzalkonium Chloride is also used in hair products, for example to treat seborrheic dermatitis. Spermicide: FeF Benzalkonium Chloride (BKC) is widely used in spermicides in foams, creams, and ampoules.
Safety and efficacy
Since Benzalkonium Chloride acts on the surface and not on the content of cells, they do not trigger antibiotic resistance. Benzalkonium Chloride should not be classified as skin sensitizers but as skin irritants. Bromides are less irritating to the skin than chlorides. Benzalkonium Chloride is relatively non-toxic in use concentrations and is only considered harmful in concentrated forms.
Tertiary amines are used in the manufacture of Benzalkonium Chloride; free amine is a possible impurity and can be responsible for skin irritation. FeF Benzalkonium Chloride is carefully manufactured with synthetic raw materials from qualified suppliers, and our validated processes are fully controlled to obtain the lowest possible content of impurities.
Product characteristics
Solubility: Benzalkonium Chloride is miscible with water or lower alcohols, such as methanol, ethanol, and propanol in all ratios. Benzalkonium Chloride are not miscible with benzene or ether.
Compatibility: Benzalkonium Chloride can be combined with, e.g., alcohol and chlorhexidine and with the most commonly used compounds in topical formulations. Mixing Benzalkonium Chloride with ordinary soaps and/or anionic detergents may decrease the activity. As Benzalkonium Chloride is a cationic compound, it should not be mixed with anionic compounds, which would have a neutralizing effect. Benzalkonium Chloride can be inhibited by Tween™ and by lecithin. Avoid mixing Benzalkonium Chloride (BKC) with citrates, iodides, nitrates, perman ganates, salicylates, silver salts, and tartrates. Incompatibilities have also been reported with other substances, including aluminium, fluorescin sodium, hydrogen peroxide, kaolin, and some sulfonamides.
Stability: 5 years shelf life.
Other: Colourless and odourless in finished product formulation, Easy to formulate, Surface active / adhesive, Non-volatile, and very stable.
Antimicrobial effect
FeF Benzalkonium Chloride is effective at all pH levels. However, its effectiveness increases when the pH increases. The higher the pH, the lower the concentration needed to obtain an antimicrobial effect. As opposed to bacteriostatic/fungistatic compounds, which only prevent micro-organisms from dividing (growing), Benzalkonium Chloride is bactericidal/fungicidal, meaning it will kill micro-organisms, whether they are in a growth phase or not.
Some antibiotics under given conditions are more effective than antimicrobials. However, in general, they only work if the micro-organism is in a growth phase and so cannot be used as an antimicrobial. FeF Benzalkonium Chloride has been tested against several relevant microbial strains and shown to be effective against a wide range of micro-organisms at low concentrations. In Table 1, FeF Benzalkonium Chloride is compared here with ethanol and with a positive control containing Meropenem (a broad-spectrum antibiotic).
Benzalkonium Chloride is also effective in inactivating enveloped viruses, such as herpes, hepatitis, corona, and influenza, at very low concentrations. Several publications support the use of BKC as an effective anti-viral, for example, against SARS-CoV, M31yxo- and related viruses, type A influenza, herpes simplex, adenovirus type 5, measles, canine distemper, feline pneumonitis, meningopneumonitis agents, HIV-1 and more. (Please see references below)
Table 1: Minimal Inhibitory Concentrations. Mean results in % or μg/ml.
References
- Saknimit M, Inatsuki I, Sugiyama Y, Yagami K. (1988). Virucidal efficacy of physico-chemical treatments against coronaviruses and parvoviruses of laboratory animals. Jikken Dobutsu. 37:341-5.
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2008) Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare Facilities, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
- Dellanno C1, Vega Q, Boesenberg D. The antiviral action of common household disinfectants and antiseptics against murine hepatitis virus, a potential surrogate for SARS coronavirus. American Journal of Infection Control.2009 Oct;37(8):649-52.
- A. Armstrong and E.J. Froelich. Inactivation of Viruses by Benzalkonium Chloride. Applied Microbiology Vol. 12. No. 2,132-137 March 1964.
- Manfred H.Wolff, Syed A. Sattar, Olusola Adegbunrin and Jason Tetro. Environmental survival and microbicide inactivation of coronaviruses. Coronaviruses with Special Emphasis on First Insights Concerning SARS 201 ed. by A. Schmidt, M.H. Wolff and O. Weber, 2005, p.201-212.
- Mark A. Wainberg, Bonnie Spira, Gilles Bleau and Rejean Thomas. Inactivation of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 in Tissue Culture Fluid and in Genital Secretions by the Spermicide Benzalkonium Chloride. Journal of Clinical Microbiology, Jan. 1990. p. 156-158
