Alcohols

Alcohols are generally characterized as solvents possessing lipophilic properties as well as some degree of hydrophilicity due to the hydroxyl group. According to these properties they are more soluble in body fluids and take longer to eliminate than molecules devoid of hydrophilicity. However, alcohols are in general readily metabolised by oxidative processes (e.g. by alcoholdehydrogenase) leading to the corresponding aldehydes and acids, i.e. to compounds which are responsible for the typical toxic effects of alcohols. The defatting properties of alcohols are in line with their irritant action on the skin and respiratory system.

Microbicidal alcohols are, as a general rule, colourless volatile liquids. In numerous fields of application they thus offer the advantage of being effective without leaving residues.

Alcohols rank among the membrane-active antimicrobial agents; they are adsorbed at the cytoplasmic membrane which — as a multi-purpose instrument of the microbe cell — is...