why 70% ethanol used instead of 100% ethanol as disinfectant?

Subject: why 70% ethanol used instead of 100% ethanol as disinfectant?

Date: Thu Jul 8 14:50:34 1999
Posted by Derrick Kolling
Grade level: grad (science) School: University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
City: Urbana State/Province: Il Country: USA
Area of science: Microbiology
ID: 931463434.Mi

Message:


I know that some water must be present for denaturation of the 
membranes and proteins.  But why is this necessary?  It seems as 
though the less polarity the more likely that the biomolecules 
would be to lose their hydrophobic attractions.  So 100% ethanol 
seems better than 70%, which is considered optimal.

Re: why 70% ethanol used instead of 100% ethanol as disinfectant?

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