Fatty Quaternary Ammonium Compound

Fatty Quaternary Ammonium Compound is the manufacturer's SDS §3 disclosure name for a cationic surfactant used at 1-5% concentration in Nanoskin GLIDE. The SDS labels it "Proprietary non harmful" and withholds a specific CAS number, which is typical for a trade-secret quaternary surfactant blend. Cationic (quaternary ammonium) surfactants provide lubricity and glide in spray-and-wipe detailing formulas, helping a cloth or clay lubricant slide across the surface while lifting residue. The manufacturer's SDS assigns no ingredient-level hazard classification to this component, and SDS Section 12 states the mixture is "not expected to be harmful to aquatic life." That is a diluted mixture-level statement, not an ingredient-level chemistry finding, and it does not override the class property: quaternary ammonium (cationic) surfactants are a textbook aquatic-toxic class, since the same positive charge that gives them their surfactant/antistatic function also disrupts gill membranes and cell walls in aquatic organisms. The catalog treats every other named quat ingredient (stearalkonium chloride, quaternium-80, the C12-14 ethoxylated quat) as aquatic-toxic on this same class-knowledge basis, and applies the identical standard here rather than reading SDS silence as a clean bill of health.