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Diss Factsheets
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EC number: 201-180-5 | CAS number: 79-14-1
- Life Cycle description
- Uses advised against
- Endpoint summary
- Appearance / physical state / colour
- Melting point / freezing point
- Boiling point
- Density
- Particle size distribution (Granulometry)
- Vapour pressure
- Partition coefficient
- Water solubility
- Solubility in organic solvents / fat solubility
- Surface tension
- Flash point
- Auto flammability
- Flammability
- Explosiveness
- Oxidising properties
- Oxidation reduction potential
- Stability in organic solvents and identity of relevant degradation products
- Storage stability and reactivity towards container material
- Stability: thermal, sunlight, metals
- pH
- Dissociation constant
- Viscosity
- Additional physico-chemical information
- Additional physico-chemical properties of nanomaterials
- Nanomaterial agglomeration / aggregation
- Nanomaterial crystalline phase
- Nanomaterial crystallite and grain size
- Nanomaterial aspect ratio / shape
- Nanomaterial specific surface area
- Nanomaterial Zeta potential
- Nanomaterial surface chemistry
- Nanomaterial dustiness
- Nanomaterial porosity
- Nanomaterial pour density
- Nanomaterial photocatalytic activity
- Nanomaterial radical formation potential
- Nanomaterial catalytic activity
- Endpoint summary
- Stability
- Biodegradation
- Bioaccumulation
- Transport and distribution
- Environmental data
- Additional information on environmental fate and behaviour
- Ecotoxicological Summary
- Aquatic toxicity
- Endpoint summary
- Short-term toxicity to fish
- Long-term toxicity to fish
- Short-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Long-term toxicity to aquatic invertebrates
- Toxicity to aquatic algae and cyanobacteria
- Toxicity to aquatic plants other than algae
- Toxicity to microorganisms
- Endocrine disrupter testing in aquatic vertebrates – in vivo
- Toxicity to other aquatic organisms
- Sediment toxicity
- Terrestrial toxicity
- Biological effects monitoring
- Biotransformation and kinetics
- Additional ecotoxological information
- Toxicological Summary
- Toxicokinetics, metabolism and distribution
- Acute Toxicity
- Irritation / corrosion
- Sensitisation
- Repeated dose toxicity
- Genetic toxicity
- Carcinogenicity
- Toxicity to reproduction
- Specific investigations
- Exposure related observations in humans
- Toxic effects on livestock and pets
- Additional toxicological data
Endpoint summary
Administrative data
Description of key information
Glycolic acid is a naturally occurring low molecular weight organic acid. It is a ubiquitous part of the organic matter in surface water and is known to be an excretion product of algae. It is also found in the fruit, leaf, stem and root portions of all plants. Commonly consumed fruits and vegetables are reported to contain from 4.5 to 74 mg glycolic acid/kg. Tea, coffee, fruit juice and other beverages derived from plant sources may contain 50 to 70 mg glycolic acid/L. Foods of animal origin are generally low in glycolic acid, with milk and beef reported to contain 0.6 to 1.2 mg glycolic acid/kg (NICNAS, 2000).
Degradability of glycolic acid:
Glycolic acid is concluded to be hydrolytically stable based on results from the key hydrolysis study (conducted according to OECD Guideline 111), which showed < 10% hydrolysis in the preliminary study conducted in pH 4, 7 and 9 buffered solutions at 50°C after 5 days, corresponding to a half-life of > 1 year at 25°C (Berti, 2002a).
The UV/Vis absorption spectra of glycolic acid demonstrates no absorption in the visible region (i.e. wavelengths ³290 nm). Consequently, photolysis of glycolic acid is not considered to be a significant pathway and studies to investigate phototransformation in aqueous solution are scientifically irrelevant. This conclusion is supported by the peer reviewed publication by Klementova and Wagnerova (1990), which showed that glycolic acid was not significantly photolysed under artificial sunlight without the aid of a catalyst or sensitisers. Therefore, a worst-case half-life of 1E+6 days is assumed for environmental risk assessment purposes.
Although a half-life life of 41.247 hours in air (based on a 12-hour day OH concentration of 1.5E+6 OH radicals/cm3) was estimated for glycolic acid via the AOPWIN (v1.90) QSAR model, it is noted that the substance was not within the applicability domain of the model, thus this predicted atmospheric degradation half-life cannot be considered valid (Curl, 2007). Due to the chemical lifetime of glycolic acid in the air, it is to be expected that the active substance cannot be transported in the gaseous phase over large distances and cannot accumulate in the air. Thus, no difference in the behaviour between glycolic acid and other organic substances emitted into the air from natural sources (e.g. plants, soil) is indicated.
Glycolic acid is concluded to be ready biodegradability based on data from the key ready biodegradability study, which resulted in 83.9% degradation (based on CO2 evolution) after 28 days, meeting the 10-day window (Hammesfahr, 2021a).
An aerobic and anaerobic soil degradation study according to OECD Guideline 307 is currently ongoing for glycolic acid, the dossier will be updated accordingly when available.
Based on the abovementioned data, glycolic acid is concluded to be rapidly degradable.
Mobility of glycolic acid:
Glycolic acid will exist as an anion under all environmental conditions (pKa = 3.1) and is likely to be mobile in soil. Adsorption/desorption data are available for glycolic acid according to the HPLC method (OECD Guideline 212) which resulted in a Koc value of < 25 L/kg (log Koc = < 1.4 L/kg) at pH values of 4 and 10 (Comb, 2002). Glycolic acid is therefore considered low adsorption potential and therefore to be very mobile in soil.
Additional information
NICNAS (2000). Commonwealth of Australia. Glycolic Acid, Priority Existing Chemical Assessment. Report no.: 12. Report date: 2000-03-30.
Information on Registered Substances comes from registration dossiers which have been assigned a registration number. The assignment of a registration number does however not guarantee that the information in the dossier is correct or that the dossier is compliant with Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (the REACH Regulation). This information has not been reviewed or verified by the Agency or any other authority. The content is subject to change without prior notice.
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