Herr Haber
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Ethylene / Propylene glycol as disinfectants ?
I never heard of any disinfectant property from these products.
An ex military working in crisis situations just told me they are used as disinfectants in emergencies.
I say bullshit. Whaddaya say ?
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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RedDwarf
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Quick google search gave me the article below among others (or at least the abstract), so I think the answer is they have some but didn't see any
references to antiviral.
Antibacterial and antifungal properties of propylene glycol, hexylene glycol, and 1,3-butylene glycol in vitro.
Kinnunen T1, Koskela M.
Author information
Abstract
The antimicrobial properties of three glycols, - propylene glycol, hexylene glycol, and 1,3-butylene glycol - against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus
aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Streptococcus pyogenes A, Streptococcus mitis, and E. coli were studied in vitro. Within 20 h, 10% and 30%
hexylene glycol in fresh tryptic soy broth were able to kill all the micro-organisms listed above. Five percent hexylene glycol showed some
antimicrobial properties but the 1% agent had no effect. Thirty percent 1,3-butylene glycol and 30% propylene glycol were approximately as effective
as 10% HG. The results speak in favour of using hexylene glycol in cosmetic and dermatological vehicles instead of propylene glycol and 1,3-butylene
glycol.
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Herr Haber
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Very interesting. Thank you !
The only references I could find (one only really) was about it's use in alcoholic gels as an antifreeze.
I would still be concerned about using ethylene glycol repeatedly on my skin and even more close to wounds.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Tsjerk
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Ethylene glycol is not that toxic, you shouldn't drink it but you shouldn't drink ethanol either.
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Herr Haber
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Sure, but using anti-freeze as a disinfectant seemed odd.
Splashing yourself while filling the car is probably inocuous but washing your hands on purpose several times a day doesnt sound like a good idea
either.
RedDwarf paper doesnt say anything about viruses. Still very interesting.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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RedDwarf
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Other papers I saw were citing the use of vapourised glycols for disinfection (again against bacteria), I'm assuming this was as an alternative to
fumigation, as you wouldn't want to be inhaling glycols.
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Deathunter88
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Quote: Originally posted by RedDwarf  | | Other papers I saw were citing the use of vapourised glycols for disinfection (again against bacteria), I'm assuming this was as an alternative to
fumigation, as you wouldn't want to be inhaling glycols. |
Propylene glycol is used as the carrier fluid for most vape juices.
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Fulmen
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Herr Haber: If the alternative is an aggressive staff infection a bit of glycol might be the lesser of two evils.
But what would the primary mode of action? Wouldn't 20-30% solutions of mostly anything dehydrate cells by osmosis? Or would that be too slow to work
in real life?
We're not banging rocks together here. We know how to put a man back together.
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draculic acid69
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I read somewhere that hexylene glycol had some toxic metabolites but whether or not it's an issue with use as an antibacterial I don't know
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Tsjerk
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fulmen | Herr Haber: If the alternative is an aggressive staff infection a bit of glycol might be the lesser of two evils.
But what would the primary mode of action? Wouldn't 20-30% solutions of mostly anything dehydrate cells by osmosis? Or would that be too slow to work
in real life? |
I thought the main mode of action of these compounds is that they dissolve the membrane. There is for example a class of viruses the is not killed by
ethanol, because they don't have a membrane, while they are sensitive to acid, while the membraned viruses are not effected by the acid.
Bacteria all have a membrane and are sensitive to ethanol, although there are some hospital bacteria that are getting more resistant after decades of
hand washing with ethanol / isopropanol.
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Herr Haber
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| Quote: Originally posted by Fulmen | Herr Haber: If the alternative is an aggressive staff infection a bit of glycol might be the lesser of two evils.
But what would the primary mode of action? Wouldn't 20-30% solutions of mostly anything dehydrate cells by osmosis? Or would that be too slow to work
in real life? |
I totally agree but my concern here was that people could be lulled in a false safety.
No one mentions ethylene glycol as a disinfectant, there are just a few papers mentioning glycols and only in specific cases.
I only know a little about how disinfectants works and couldnt see how it could apply for ethylene glycol.
But… I may be wrong. Maybe a smoke machine using propylene glycol is a good fumigation tool.
The spirit of adventure was upon me. Having nitric acid and copper, I had only to learn what the words 'act upon' meant. - Ira Remsen
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Fery
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IIRC the toxicity of ethylene glycol in human body is caused predominately by its metabolites glycolic, glyoxalic and oxalic acids (e.g. oxalic acid
binds Ca2+ which crystallizes out in kidneys and decreases serum concentration of Ca2+ which causes malfunction of neural system, muscle system
including heart and though lack of free Ca2+ affects almost every cell and also intracelular messaging).
The problem of efficiency of disinfectant is whether it kills not only bacteria, viruses, but also fungi (e.g. Asparagus, Pneumocystis, Candida etc)
and what is the most resistant are bacterial spores - sporicidal activity (Bacillus, Clostridium etc).
Good sporicidal activity exhibit e.g. peracetic acid, H2O2, I2.
Intoxication with glycol (drinking it by an accident) could be treated (among a lot of other necessary steps) with ethanol which competes on liver
alcohol dehydrogenase so less of oxalic acid is produced in the body (similarly to treatment of metanol intoxication where the goal is to reduce
production of its metabolites formaldehyde and formic acid) - today there are safer alternatives to ethanol.
There was a terrible sad criminal case in my country few years ago in which a mother poisoned her daughter during a process of separation/divorcing as
a revenge to the father of the child. Luckily the girl survived because her mother changed her mind early enough so medical professionals were able to
save the girl life. Mother was imprisoned for a lot of years. She added the ethylene glycol into some food or drink (it has a sweet taste).
Another problem is when a curious child finds a bottle of ethylene glycol, is able to open it and taste it... adding a little of denatonium benzoate
could prevent that completely.
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rockyit98
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Ethylene / Propylene glycol probably not because even at high concentrate anything (most of things) can be a disinfectant.i'm taking what he meant is
was Ethylene oxide or Propylene oxide, those are used to kill off anything and at the end you get Ethylene / Propylene glycol as the reactions take
place.but those after products can be food for bacteria and fungi that survived Ethylene oxide 100% disinfectant is necessary.
Ethylene oxide is fallen out of favor due to the fact end product Ethylene glycol toxic than Propylene glycol.
"A mind is a terrible thing to lose"-Meisner
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Fery
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rockyit98 there is a difference between disinfection and sterilization
ethylene oxide is not be used for disinfection, but is used for sterilization
if you apply ethylene oxide properly (concentration, time, temperature, humidity) then it kills everything (bacteria and fungi do not survive, nothing
survives), it is so much efficient
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