Guanine

Guanine (CAS 73-40-5) is a naturally occurring purine base sourced primarily from fish scales. Also marketed as Pearl Essence and Natural White 1.

Where is Guanine used?

• Cosmetics: pearlescent formulations, exploiting its crystalline platelet structure for a distinctive iridescent optical effect
• Personal care: nail polishes, lipsticks, eyeshadows and shampoos for pearl-like shimmer and light diffusion
• Life sciences: biochemical reference material and nucleotide synthesis building block
• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology research: precursor and reference standard in nucleoside and nucleotide synthesis workflows
• Diagnostic reagent producers source it as a high-purity analytical standard for assay development.

Good to know: Cosmetic formulators value it as a natural-origin alternative to synthetic mica. Cosmetic-grade material meets INCI-compliant formulation requirements for global distribution.

Commercial specifications

• USP or research-grade specifications with defined purity thresholds
• Packaging from small laboratory quantities to bulk industrial volumes