Radical-induced autoxidation dominates squalene oxidative aging under environmental conditions
Xinke Wang, Jillian P. Downey, Giulia Gobbi, William D. Fahy, Wanqi Wu, Linna Xie, Xingwang Hou, Hui Peng, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt · 2026
Read Radical-induced autoxidation dominates squalene oxidative aging under environmental conditions by Xinke Wang, Jillian P. Downey, Giulia Gobbi, William D. Fahy, Wanqi Wu, Linna Xie, Xingwang Hou, Hui Peng, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13665947.txt.
Description
Xinke Wang and eight co-authors wrote this 2026 study overturning a standard story about how skin oil ages indoors. Ozone was long blamed as the chief attacker of squalene, a major skin lipid that coats indoor surfaces. The team exposed squalene to indoor air and to controlled gases in flow reactors, then tracked its decay and the products formed.
In plain air the decay sped up over time, the fingerprint of autoxidation, a self-feeding radical chain. Ozone combined with hydroxyl radicals, rather than ozone alone, reproduced the indoor pattern: faster reactive oxygen output and oxidized products matching those found in rooms. Oddly, the radicals also suppressed the volatile emissions ozone alone would release. The authors argue radical-driven autoxidation, not ozone chemistry, rules skin oil aging, a shift with consequences for indoor air models.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Xinke Wang, Jillian P. Downey, Giulia Gobbi, William D. Fahy, Wanqi Wu, Linna Xie, Xingwang Hou, Hui Peng, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 43 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |