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Bar of carbolic soap, demonstrating the rich red colour that gives the soap its alternative name, red soap. Carbolic soap, sometimes referred to as red soap, is a mildly antiseptic soap containing carbolic acid (phenol) and/or cresylic acid (cresol), both of which are phenols derived from either coal tar or petroleum sources. [1] [2]
Lifebuoy is a British brand of soap marketed by Unilever. Lifebuoy was originally, and for much of its history, a carbolic soap containing phenol (carbolic acid, a compound extracted from coal tar). The soaps manufactured today under the Lifebuoy brand do not contain phenol.
Lister's contributions were four-fold. Firstly, as a surgeon at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, he introduced carbolic acid (modern-day phenol) as a steriliser for surgical instruments, patients' skins, sutures, surgeons' hands, and wards, promoting the principle of antiseptics.
The antiseptic properties of phenol discovered by Jules Lemaire were put to good use by the British surgeon Joseph Lister (1827–1912), pioneer of the antiseptic method in operative surgery, who had the idea of putting all his surgical tools and gowns in carbolic acid, as well as the wounds of the operated, thus reducing the postoperative mortality rate from 40% to 15%.
Phenol (also known as carbolic acid, phenolic acid, or benzenol) is an aromatic organic compound with the molecular formula C 6 H 5 OH. [5] It is a white crystalline solid that is volatile . The molecule consists of a phenyl group ( −C 6 H 5 ) bonded to a hydroxy group ( −OH ).
Soap is a salt of a fatty acid (sometimes other carboxylic acids) used for cleaning and lubricating products as well as other applications. [1] In a domestic setting, soaps, specifically "toilet soaps", are surfactants usually used for washing , bathing , and other types of housekeeping .
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They are also found in some mouthwashes and in disinfectant soap and handwashes. Phenols are toxic to cats [33] and newborn humans [34] Phenol is probably the oldest known disinfectant as it was first used by Lister, when it was called carbolic acid. It is rather corrosive to the skin and sometimes toxic to sensitive people.