Talk:Hydroquinone

Article needs expansion
The article doesn't mention anything about hydroquinone being used for cosmetic purposes, and that it is the main ingredient in fading/bleaching creams which are widely available in drugstores (at least in the U.S.) with 2 percent hydroquinone (prescription creams contain 3, 4, 5 percent). The article doesn't mention how it "reduces the color of the skin" (it inhibits the production of melanin). Those are just some of the points that should be covered. --Inahet 05:31, 18 July 2006

Hydroquinone does not inhibit the production of melanin; it inhibits the production of tyrosinase, which is an enzyme that triggers melanin production. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.4.4.54 (talk) 00:23, 14 August 2008 (UTC)

The use of hydroquinone in cosmetics is banned in the EU under the European Directive 76/768/EEC:1976. Example of a product recall in Ireland : http://www.consumerconnect.ie/eng/News_+_Research/Product_Recalls/Clear_N_Smooth_cream_withdrawn.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.41.155.127 (talk) 14:33, 10 December 2008 (UTC)

In the body of the article first it says that the FDA has banned it, then it says that the FDA classified it as safe. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.92.254.90 (talk) 20:01, 8 July 2012 (UTC)

Alleged use by Michael Jackson
Apparently this is the chemical of choice he used to white his skin... true or not true? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 218.186.12.225 (talk) 03:15, 22 December 2008 (UTC)

Well, the current issue of National Enquirer mentions it in a list of medicines he was allegedly taking, but most people don't regard that as the most reliable of sources.--69.149.227.173 (talk) 02:55, 15 July 2009 (UTC)

Bearberry and folk medicine
I've added a relatively brief reference to hydroquinone's role in the use of bearberry as an anti-bacterial treatment. It'd be useful if the article explained how hydroquinone is understood to interfere with bacteria. (Unfortunately, I didn't come across any information.) This part of the article would benefit from a better reference, too. Pololei (talk) 22:24, 12 May 2012 (UTC)
 * the link you added is to a source that sells stuff, which is what I would consider spam. I am sure that you did not intend it that way, but we try to avoid sites like that.  I just do not think that this commercial link is a very reliable source that bearberry contains hydroquinone.  Our article Arbutin does cite at least one decent (not perfect but primary) reference on a derivative of hydroquinone in bearberry.  But it is not hydroquinone itself.  So your edits might be modified strongly. --Smokefoot (talk) 23:23, 12 May 2012 (UTC)

External links modified (January 2018)
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What was wrong with my reverted edit?
I changed the sentence:

into

The reason for my edit was readability. According to the Google Search my version is over 34 times more common in books. I am not a native English speaker but know about 20000 words, and yet "by two main routes" was not clear to me. Wikipedia should be for everyone, and the mere existence of Simple English Wikipedia should not be an excuse to make our articles hard to understand. Are you afraid that something can be too easy for native speakers? Keep in mind that non-native speakers now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of 3 to 1 (check it out), and some of them are Wikipedia editors, like me. So, why not make life easier? 85.193.252.19 (talk) 21:45, 7 October 2021 (UTC)


 * @User:Smokefoot: Your only argument was "come off it", and you ignored my invitation to join the discussion, so I restored my version. 85.193.252.19 (talk) 15:27, 11 October 2021 (UTC)

Polarity of hydroquinone.
Hydroquinone is polar according to various texts despite its symmetry, this is partially because of restricted rotation of the hydroxyl groups due to Partial Double Bond Character, causing them to be in the plane of the Benzene, and also because the two hydroxyl groups point in the same direct.

The correct structure (or one of its correct structures/ conformers) of hydroquinone will have both -OH in same direction

Sources: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1945, 67 (2), 322–324 Toastinopler (talk) 03:56, 1 February 2024 (UTC)


 * @User:Smokefoot Toastinopler (talk) 03:58, 1 February 2024 (UTC)