DEODORANT PROPERTIES OF NACCONOL*,t By LAWRENCE FJJETT Director, New Products Division• Nationa[ .4ni/ine Division, .4//led Chemica[ & Dye Corporation, New York, N.Y. THE USE OF COSMETICS for the adornment of the body is very ancient they were an appeal to the sense of sight. In modern times the science of cosmeticology has been broadened to include appeals to the sense of touch, the sense of taste, and the sense of smell. With the development of the musical powder box, the cosmetic industry now appeals to all five senses. This discussion is concerned with the sense of smell. The cosmetic chemist is interested in smell both in a positive and a negative way that is to say, he is concerned with en- hancing pleasant odors, such as the perfumes used to improve sales appeal, and he is concerned with deodorizing unpleasant odors. At the outset it would appear to be im- possible to accomplish these two contradictory objectives. Any means of destroying an offensive odor would be expected to be equally effective in destroying per- fumes or other desired odors. * Presented at the May 20, 1949, Meet- ing, New York City/, t Trade Mark Nacconol," Reg. U.S. Pat. Off., Allied Chemical and Dye Corpora- tion. The problem is difficult but not impossible because odors may be eliminated in more than' one way and because each method of re- moving odors is highly selective. Odors can be eliminated by ab- sorbing them, by destroying them, by washing them away, or by pre- venting their formation. All of these methods engage the attention of the perfumer and the manufac- turer of deodorants, but the per- ruiner is particularly concerned with products which absorb perfumes while the deodorant manufacturer is particularly concerned with prod- ucts which prevent the develop- ment of unwanted odors. D'EODORIZING BY ABSORPTION It was pointed out in the article, "Synthetic Detergents and Odors," by Flett, Toone, and Booth in the •tmerican Perruiner, June, 19•7, that the detergent "Nacconol" NRSF can behave as a deodorant in the strictest sense of the word. Odors of all types may be weakened by the use of strong "Nacconol" solutions or by use of the dry powder. "Nacconol" NRSF rather corn- 30'[

DEODORANT PROPERTIES OF NACCONOL 305 pletely deodorizes some substances whereas it appears to have very little effect on others. This varia- tion in behavior is an important con- sideration in the preparation of cos- metics. Many cosmetic prepara- tions now contain synthetic de- tergents and all such preparations are pertire, ed. In compounding such products the cosmetic chemist must make certain that the per- fumes chosen will not be deodorized by the surface-active agent. For example, very strong solutions of "Nacconol" NRSF will seriously weaken the odor of the proprietary perfume, Chanel No. 5, whereas they have very little, if any, deodor- izing action on the perfume, Fresh- ette. Anise and Cinnamic Aldehyde are hardly affected. In all cases there appears to be some deodorizing action by the strong "Nacconol" NRSF solutions. The deodorization varies some- times it is weak but generally it is quite significant. The deodorizing action of dry "Nacconol" NRSF is shown in Tables 2, 3, and 4. Table 2 shows the deodorizing ac- tion on common chemical sub- stances, Table 3 on commercial perfumes and Table 4 on aromatic materials. In all cases the deodor- izing action is very selective and by proper choice suitable perfuming materials may always be found. Table 5 shows the deodorizing ac- tion on ordinary household odors. TXnLS 1--DEor)oP. IZINC, ACTION OF "NAccONOL" NRSF SOLUT•oN•Or)oP. Or AP. OMATIC CHEMICALS IN SOLUTION "Nacconol" NRSF Solution •s. Distilled Water Control Slightly Appreciably Considerably Aromatic Weaker Weaker Weaker Civet Art AA .. X Oil Thyme SP. WH .. • .. Oil Petitgrain SA .. X .. Oil Peppermint RD X .. Oil Anise RD • .. Terpineol • Cinnamic Aldehyde • " Vanillin .. • ii Phenylethyl Alcohol .. X Oil Patchouly SU .. • Citral • .. Benzyl Salicylate X .... The selective deodorizing action of water solutions of "Nacconol" NRSF on aromatic chemicals is shown in Table 1. It will be no- ticed, for example, that a product like Terpineol is rather completely deodorized while products like Oil of DEODORIZING BY' PREVENTION The very offensive odors which develop with large colonies of bac- teria are probably nature's warning of the presence of these enemies of man. The "Nacconol" NRSF