Diethanolamine (DEA)

We want to flag a naming ambiguity directly, since this abbreviation is genuinely overloaded in the chemical trade: "DEA" here refers to Diethanolamine (CAS 111-42-2), the secondary alkanolamine on this page. It is not the same as N,N-Diethylaniline, an aromatic tertiary amine sometimes also informally abbreviated "DEA" in dye-trade contexts, nor any other diethylamino compound that might share the abbreviation. Always confirm the CAS number on a quote or order rather than rely on the bare abbreviation.

We also want to state a precise, carefully separated pair of facts rather than one simplified claim. Diethanolamine itself was evaluated by IARC (Monograph Volume 101, 2013) and placed in Group 2B, possibly carcinogenic to humans, based on sufficient evidence in animal skin-painting studies (increased liver and kidney tumours in mice) and inadequate human evidence — a finding about this compound's own data. Separately, Diethanolamine, being a secondary amine, can react under certain conditions (notably in the presence of nitrosating agents such as nitrite-based preservatives or contaminants) to form N-nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA, CAS 1116-54-7) — a distinct nitrosamine compound, separately evaluated by IARC decades earlier and also placed in Group 2B, on its own, different animal-carcinogenicity data. These are two different substances with two independent IARC findings, related by a possible formation pathway, not one fact — we do not write that "DEA is carcinogenic because it forms nitrosamines," since IARC's DEA evaluation rests on DEA's own skin-painting tumour data, not specifically on in-situ NDELA formation.

Where it fits in the synthesis chain

We supply Diethanolamine itself as an industrial gas-treating amine and chemical intermediate, strictly for non-cosmetic industrial use consistent with its EU cosmetics-regulation status (see below). We do not manufacture or supply cosmetic products, cocamide DEA or other amide derivatives, or finished metalworking-fluid formulations.

Grades we supply

99%+ technical and gas-treating grades are offered for industrial use.

Diethanolamine is made industrially by reaction of ethylene oxide with aqueous ammonia, in the same reactor system used to co-produce Monoethanolamine and Triethanolamine, with a higher ethylene oxide-to-ammonia ratio favouring this compound over MEA.

Dedicated DEA-selective industrial process variants exist (documented in process patents) to maximise this compound's yield from a given reactor run.

The crude product is separated from MEA and TEA by distillation, then tested for purity and colour before packing.

DEA and NDELA: two substances, two separate IARC findings

We want to be exact about this distinction because it is commonly blurred elsewhere. Diethanolamine's own IARC Group 2B classification rests on its own animal skin-painting data -- tumours observed in mice dosed with DEA itself. N-Nitrosodiethanolamine (NDELA) is a chemically distinct nitrosamine that can form from DEA only under specific conditions (reaction with a nitrosating agent), and IARC evaluated NDELA separately, reaching its own, independent Group 2B finding based on NDELA's own animal data. The practical, correct statement is: DEA is Group 2B on its own merits; DEA can, under certain formulation conditions, also give rise to a different Group 2B substance (NDELA). Collapsing these into "DEA causes cancer because of nitrosamines" misstates what IARC's own DEA evaluation says.