I am a bit of a geeky loser, so today I am going to share some exciting mouthwash (bio)chemistry I discovered 15 minutes ago that nobody is going to care about on Facebook/Instagram. I wonder if any of my fellow course-mates would read this.
The story goes: the mouthwash I normally use is not on half price offer, so I ventured out to a different brand and found this curious two-phase mixture on the shelf, which apparently only works if one activates it by vigorously mixing it before use each time, and this roughly 2:8 mixture separates out in about 2 minutes, which looks like some standard aqueous-lipid separation. According to the official website, and assuming the marketing team is actually scientifically eloquent, the mixing "create[s] a cationic reaction to attract bacteria and food particles" without presumably ripping apart your mouth linings. How does that work, do you reckon? There seems to be a lot of interesting chemistry going on at the same time but I am not sure if I have the complete picture. The active ingredients are listed in the comments. Let's see if I get more than 3 responses.
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EDIT (7th December 2016):
So, an update. The way I understand it is that there are three things going on here. CPC kills bacteria by disrupting their cell wall (hydrophobic effect); triclosan disrupts the cell wall repair mechanism by inhibiting the protein responsible for it (curiously, by also binding the product of the cofactor, NAD+); the oil layer is isopropyl myristate, which apparently gels the bacteria together (persumably by that "cationic reaction") so they get flushed out more easily. CPC (esp. in the presence of ethanol) is known to stain your teeth because, as I was told by my dentist, it leaves dehydrated bacteria debris on your teeth. Presumably isopropyl myristate helps to prevent the stains by forming those solid lumps you see in the sink.
This entry was originally published in my private Instagram account.
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