Phenols antiseptic/disinfectant properties

Phenols are weak acids that are widely used for their antiseptic and disinfectant properties. Some phenols are used as antioxidants in foods and a variety of other materials. 

Tri-cresol.—The product as obtained from coal tar is a mixture of all three isomers and is known as tri-cresol. The properties of the cresols are in general like those of phenol. They also are valuable antiseptics being largely used as disinfectants. 

Phenol is a product of the refining of oil and coal tar and is used industrially in the manufacture of pharmaceuticals, plastics, rubber, and plywood. It has antiseptic, germicidal, and anesthetic properties and may be used in disinfectants and preservatives. It is used in small amounts in many over-the-counter products with antiseptic properties. It is also a common reagent in nucleic acid/molecular biology research and is used to denature and remove protein from preparations of DNA and RNA. 

Phenols are inherently antiseptic, antibacterial, and, thus, act as disinfectants. Consequently, those essential oils that have high phenol content must be used at low concentrations and over relatively short periods of time. As they have good antiseptic properties, phenols are also skin and mucous membrane irritants, examples of which are cinnamon and clove oil. 

However, the development of microbicidally active phenol derivatives started from phenol itself, from carbolic acid, the antiseptic properties of whidh were detected in 1860 and first used by Lister in 1867 to kill bacteria on medical instruments, surgical dressings and wounds. The development of chemical disinfection revolutionized progress in hospitals, particularly in surgery. It was possible to successfully employ and develop surgical techniques which in the past had been feasible but unpractical because of the associated unavoidable massive and generally fatal infections. 

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