Para-hydroxyacetophenone (p-HAP) is a commonly used preservative in cosmetics and has broad market development potential.

Para-hydroxyacetophenone (p-HAP), also known as 4-hydroxyacetophenone, p-acetylphenol, and acetophenone, refers to a class of organic compounds with the chemical formula C6H6O. The molecule contains a hydroxyl group and a benzene ring. It appears as white needle-like crystals at room temperature. It is easily soluble in hot water, methanol, ethanol, acetone, ether, benzene, etc. It is difficult to dissolve in petroleum ether and insoluble in water.

At present, the main method for industrial production of p-hydroxyacetophenone is chemical synthesis. There are two main process paths: one is using phenol as raw material and prepared through esterification, translocation and other links. This process is used to produce p-hydroxyacetophenone. Hydroxyacetophenone has the advantages of short reaction steps, low production cost and the disadvantage of producing a large amount of by-product o-hydroxyacetophenone; the other type refers to using anisole as raw material and prepared through Friedel-Crafts reaction, degrouping and other steps. This process has the disadvantages of high cost, high energy consumption, long reaction time, low output and the advantages of high product purity.

Parahydroxyacetophenone is non-acidic and has safety and environmental protection characteristics. It can be used as a preservative in cosmetics manufacturing scenarios. It mainly plays the role of improving the antioxidant, antibacterial, calming and relieving properties of products, stabilizing emulsions, and corrosion resistance. It has choleretic properties. , stone dissolving effect, can be used as a pharmaceutical intermediate in pharmaceutical production scenarios such as paracetamol, anti-inflammatory drug butylcarboxylic acid, antiasthmatic drug salbutamol, cholecystitis drugs, etc.; can be used as a plasticizer in plastic production scenarios; can be used as a dissolving agent Suitable for scenarios such as cellulose ester and resin dissolution.

Para-hydroxyacetophenone is widely used in medicine, pesticides, spices, cosmetics, chemical industry and other fields, with cosmetics being its main application field. Compared with traditional cosmetic preservatives, p-hydroxyacetophenone is non-carcinogenic and non-irritating. It has the advantages of stronger antibacterial and antiseptic properties and higher safety. It has been widely used in mid-to-high-end cosmetics.

Currently, with the continuous improvement of national living standards and the rapid development of the beauty economy, the scale of the cosmetics market continues to expand, which in turn drives the demand for parahydroxyacetophenone to continue to rise. The domestic cosmetics market will exceed 480 billion yuan in 2022. Therefore, according to the“China’s Parahydroxyacetophenone Industry Market Trends from 2023 to 2027″ released by the Industrial Research Center Monitoring and Future Development Prospects Research Report” shows that the domestic market demand for p-hydroxyacetophenone will exceed 5,000 tons in 2022. The current domestic market for p-hydroxyacetophenone is still relatively small, and there is huge room for industry growth in the future.

Industry analysts said that p-hydroxyacetophenone is an important pharmaceutical intermediate and chemical raw material. It is used in medicine, chemical industry, It is widely used in cosmetics, pesticides and other fields. With the current accelerating development of the domestic cosmetics industry, the demand for p-hydroxyacetophenone continues to increase, and the market development space is broad. Domestic p-hydroxyacetophenone companies mainly include Jiangsu Xinhan New Materials, Kaiyuan Minsheng Technology, Ansaipu Chemical, Huaxia Pesticide, Celestica Tianda Pharmaceutical Technology, Dezhixin, BASF, etc.