Quick control of safety, efficacy and composition of alcoholic hand sanitizers using FT-IR ATR spectroscopy.

As early as 2002, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) revised its guidelines for basic hygiene and recommended alcohol-based hand disinfectants to public institutions and medical staff as a possible alternative to washing hands with soap and water. Commercial hand disinfectants are most often alcohol-based and contain either isopropanol, ethanol, n-propanol, or combination of two of the three alcohols. The antimicrobial activity of these alcohols can, of course, be attributed to their ability to denature proteins. The best antimicrobial efficacy can be achieved with ethanol (in concentration of 60 to 85 %) and isopropanol (60 to 80%). Higher concentrations are less effective because proteins are not so easily denatured in the absence of water. On the other hand, solutions with an alcohol content of less than 60% can only successfully reduce the growth of bacteria, but not kill them. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDA has recently issued guidelines temporarily allowing some entities (not currently regulated by the FDA as drug manufacturers) to prepare and distribute these hand sanitizers (emergency only). Despite the relatively simple composition and production of these disinfectants, it is critical to ensure the correct quality and effectiveness of these mass-distributed products. A simple analysis using the FT-IR ATR methodology quickly reveals the overall composition of the product and also the content of individual alcohols.

Source: Advancing Material Blog – What Actually Happens When You Use a Hand Sanitizer?

More here: Hand Sanitizer FTIR