DOA / DEHA (Dioctyl Adipate): Properties, Uses in Plastics and Regulatory Status

DOA (bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate, also called DEHA; CAS 103-23-1) is an adipate ester used as a low-temperature plasticizer for flexible PVC, and it is the main plasticizer in PVC food cling film. Because the trade name DOA and the systematic name DEHA cover one ester, while chemical databases attach the literal name dioctyl adipate to a second, linear isomer of the same formula, the first question this page settles is which substance the abbreviation names.

Four instruments record its status. DOA is registered under REACH, has never been placed on the REACH Candidate List, carries no harmonised classification under the CLP Regulation, and is authorised for EU food-contact plastics as FCM substance 207 with a specific migration limit of 18 mg/kg under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 (status 23 September 2026). DOA is one of 56 plasticizer pages in our directory of plastic additives, each carrying the same identity, dosage and regulatory fields.

The data sheet and the compliance record sit together here: the identity that separates DOA from the linear ester of the same molecular weight, the cold-flex mechanism and the permanence it costs, the physical constants, the 10 to 35 wt% dosage band in PVC, 3 application areas led by cling film, the comparison with DOP, DINA, DIDA, DOS, DOZ, DOTP and DINCH, and the trade names a buyer can quote against.

Table T1. DOA identity card.

Footnote: identity and physical data from PubChem CID 7641; regulatory entries from ECHA registration dossier 15293 and the EU and US legal texts cited in each section. Status as of 23 September 2026.

What Is DOA (Dioctyl Adipate)?#

DOA is the bis(2-ethylhexyl) ester of adipic acid (hexanedioic acid), an aliphatic diester that softens PVC and lowers the temperature at which the compound turns brittle. Adipic acid supplies a saturated six-carbon backbone with a carboxyl group at each end, and 2-ethylhexanol supplies the two branched C8 chains esterified onto it, which gives the formula C22H42O4 and a molecular weight of 370.6 g/mol. Nothing aromatic appears anywhere in the molecule. Which substances, then, does the name DOA actually cover?

Function rather than chemistry defines the additive class. ASTM D883 defines a plasticizer as a substance incorporated into a plastic or an elastomer to increase its flexibility, workability or distensibility, and DOA performs that role in PVC as a primary plasticizer, compatible enough to soften the resin without a second ester beside it. Aliphatic diesters as a group are built on four diacids, adipic (C6), glutaric (C5), azelaic (C9) and sebacic (C10), and DOA is the reference member of the adipic branch. The hub on plasticizers for plastics compares that branch with the ortho-phthalates, terephthalates, trimellitates, cyclohexanoates, citrates and epoxidised esters that share the market with it.

What does DOA stand for?#

DOA stands for dioctyl adipate, where "dioctyl" means two branched 2-ethylhexyl groups rather than two straight-chain n-octyl groups. The same trade convention makes DOP mean DEHP and not the linear di-n-octyl phthalate, so a data sheet headed dioctyl adipate and a data sheet headed di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate describe one substance, CAS 103-23-1, under two names.

Is DOA the same as DEHA?#

Yes: DOA and DEHA are two abbreviations for the same substance, CAS 103-23-1, with DEHA the systematic form used in EU food-contact law and DOA the trade form used on supplier datasheets. Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 lists the substance under its systematic name as FCM 207, while producers sell the identical ester as Plastomoll DOA, Vestinol OA, Adimoll DO and Jayflex DOA. A specification that names DEHA and a specification that names DOA therefore call for the same delivery, and only the CAS number proves it.

Why does the name "dioctyl adipate" point to two different esters?#

The name splits because "octyl" can mean the branched 2-ethylhexyl group or a straight n-octyl chain: the plasticizer traded as DOA carries the branched chains and the CAS number 103-23-1, while chemical databases attach the literal name dioctyl adipate to the linear isomer built from the same formula C22H42O4 and the same molecular weight of 370.6 g/mol. Two esters therefore answer to one name, and a molecular-weight screen cannot tell them apart, because both weigh 370.6 g/mol. Encyclopedia entries follow the systematic reading and call the plasticizer usage of "dioctyl adipate" incorrect; supplier datasheets, producer catalogues and the plastics trade follow the branched reading and have done so for decades.

One practical rule follows from the split: order and specify by CAS number, never by name, because supplier datasheets, the EU Union list and chemical encyclopedias use the words differently. The same ambiguity is settled the same way for DEHP (DOP, dioctyl phthalate), where trade usage of "dioctyl phthalate" means the branched ester and not DNOP.

Is DOA a phthalate?#

DOA is not a phthalate: it is the ester of adipic acid, a saturated aliphatic diacid with no benzene ring, so none of the phthalate restrictions in REACH Annex XVII entries 51 and 52 or in US 16 CFR 1307 applies to it. Entry 51 names DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP, entry 52 names DINP, DIDP and DNOP, and every one of the seven is an ortho-phthalate, an ester of the two adjacent carboxyl groups of phthalic acid. The aliphatic diester family sits outside the scope of both entries by construction, not by exemption.

Scope is what the word non-phthalate describes. DOA belongs to the non-phthalate plasticizers, the group the phthalate restrictions do not reach, together with the terephthalates, cyclohexanoates, citrates and other adipates. Absence from a restriction list is a regulatory position and not a safety statement, so this page records where DOA stands in each instrument and leaves the marketing claim aside.

How Does DOA Plasticize PVC?#

DOA plasticizes PVC by placing a flexible six-carbon aliphatic chain between the polymer chains, which lowers the glass transition temperature further than an aromatic ester of the same size and keeps the compound flexible at low service temperature. The ester oxygens interact with the carbon-chlorine dipoles of the PVC backbone, the chains gain room to move, and the rigid resin becomes a soft compound. The saturated adipic backbone adds little stiffness of its own, which is why the cold flex of an adipate beats that of a phthalate at the same loading.

What does DOA give up for that cold flexibility? The same short backbone raises volatility and extraction, so an adipate leaves a compound faster than a heavier ester does under heat or under contact with oils. Hallstar records the two governing trends in its monograph on the function and selection of ester plasticizers: longer alcohol chains reduce polarity, lower volatility and improve low-temperature flexibility, while more branching worsens low-temperature performance and raises volatility. DOA sits at the efficient, volatile end of that map, which is why formulators blend it rather than use it alone.

Compatibility and dose set the limits. A plasticizer stays in a polymer while the difference between the solubility parameters of polymer and plasticizer remains within about 1.5 (cal/cm3)^0.5, a general rule of the class rather than a published value for DOA, and below roughly 15 phr antiplasticization raises stiffness instead of lowering it.

The 4 classic plasticization theories are listed below.

• Lubricity theory, which treats the plasticizer as a lubricant between the polymer chains.
• Gel theory, which treats the polymer as a three-dimensional gel whose contact points the plasticizer breaks.
• Free-volume theory, which treats plasticization as an increase in the free volume available for chain motion.
• Mechanistic theory, also called solvation-desolvation, which treats plasticizer and polymer as being in dynamic equilibrium.

The four theories are explained on how plasticizers work, and all four predict the same outcome for an adipate: efficient softening, chain mobility in the cold, and a permanence penalty the rest of the formulation has to cover.

What Are the Physical and Chemical Properties of DOA?#

DOA is a colourless to straw-coloured liquid with a melting point of -67.8 °C (-90 °F), a flash point of 196 °C (385 °F) and a density of 0.922 at 25 °C/4 °C, which places it among the lowest-melting common PVC plasticizers. The table below lists the constants recorded for CAS 103-23-1 in PubChem, with the reporting source for each row.

Table T2. DOA physical and chemical properties.

A boiling point without its pressure cannot be compared with another boiling point. PubChem records 417 °C (783 °F) for DOA at atmospheric pressure of 760 mmHg and 214 °C (417 °F) at 5 mmHg, and the two figures describe the same liquid measured under two conditions, so a datasheet that prints one number alone gives no basis for a comparison. Vapour pressure, viscosity, refractive index and the solubility parameter of DOA are not in our source library, and this page publishes none of them rather than estimating them from a neighbouring ester.

Which Polymers Use DOA, and at What Dosage?#

DOA is used almost entirely in flexible PVC, at 10 to 35 wt% of the plastic material according to the ECHA use mapping recorded in PubChem, and US food-contact law caps it at 24 wt% or 35 wt% of the vinyl chloride polymer depending on film thickness. Polar rubbers take it as well, at the 20 pphr test level used in the Hallstar elastomer series, but the volume is in film.

How do phr values convert to weight percent? Weight percent equals the phr of one ingredient divided by the total phr of the recipe, multiplied by 100, so 30 phr DOA in a compound of 100 phr PVC plus 30 phr DOA gives 30 divided by 130 times 100, or 23.1 wt%. Real compounds also carry heat stabilizers, fillers and lubricants, so the denominator has to be the complete formulation total. Compound recipes state the adipate in PHR (parts per hundred resin), which converts to the weight percent a food-contact limit is written in only with that full total.

Class context frames those numbers. Flexible PVC carries 5 to 65 wt% plasticizer in total across a hardness range of about Shore A 50 to Shore A 90, according to Wiesinger and colleagues in their 2024 study in Environmental Science and Technology, and the DOA share is part of that package rather than the whole of it. Complete recipes with stabilizer and filler levels sit on flexible PVC formulations.

Table T3. DOA levels by polymer.

Footnote: formulation-specific cells mean the figure is not in our source library; we do not estimate dosage.

DOA in flexible PVC film#

DOA is more efficient than DEHP in flexible PVC film: its typical substitution factor is 0.93 against the DEHP reference value of 1.00, so about 7 % less DOA reaches the same hardness. The factor is a typical figure from a single secondary source, published for comparison at Shore A 80, and a supplier substitution table takes priority over it in a real reformulation. Film is where that efficiency matters most, because a lower plasticizer load cuts cost and extractables together.

Dose has a floor as well as a target. Below about 15 phr the compound enters the antiplasticization region, where the ester raises stiffness instead of lowering it, so a cling-film recipe works far above that threshold. DOA competes with DINA, DIDA and DOS across the plasticizers for PVC range, and the choice between them is decided by the food-contact authorisation and by the required cold flex rather than by softening power alone.

DOA in low-temperature cable, hose and sheeting#

DOA goes into PVC cable, hose and sheeting that has to stay flexible in the cold, almost always as part of a blend rather than as the sole plasticizer. Kaya and colleagues quantified the trade-off in their 2026 study in Polymers: in a PVC cable compound at 50 phr, the decomposition onset of the DOA formulation was 236 °C, the lowest of the plasticizers in the series and about 26 °C below the 262 °C recorded for the TOTM compound.

Heat resistance is therefore the constraint that decides the DOA share in an insulation recipe, not cold flex. Blends of DOTP, DOA and TOTM in the same study balanced the two ends, with the terephthalate carrying the bulk of the softening, the adipate holding the low-temperature performance and the trimellitate supplying thermal stability. Temperature classes and the matching esters are tabulated on plasticizers for wire and cable. No UL temperature rating for a DOA compound is recorded in our source library, so this page assigns none.

DOA in rubber compounds (NBR, CR)#

DOA also serves as a low-temperature ester softener in polar rubbers such as NBR and CR, where it gives the lowest as-molded brittleness point of the common esters and the largest loss after heat ageing. Hallstar's Table IV reports an NBR compound with 34 % acrylonitrile at 20 pphr plasticizer, tested to ASTM D2137: the DOA compound reached -42 °C as molded and -23 °C after 70 hours at 125 °C, against -33 °C and -25 °C for the DOP compound. The full ester set for NBR and CR is compared on plasticizers for rubber and elastomers, where the ether-ester adipate DBEEA holds the same low-temperature job with better retention after ageing.

What Is DOA Used For? 3 Application Areas in Plastics#

DOA is used in 3 application areas in plastics: PVC food cling film, cold-service cable and hose, and blends with general-purpose plasticizers such as DOTP and DINP. The three are listed below in order of the volume each one takes.

• PVC food cling film, the application DOA dominates and the reason it carries a food-contact authorisation in the EU and in the United States.
• Cold-service cable, hose and outdoor sheeting, where the brittleness point decides the specification.
• Blends with general-purpose plasticizers, where DOA supplies cold flex inside a package built on DOTP, DINP or TOTM.

PVC food cling film#

PVC food cling film is the application that DOA dominates, because an adipate stays flexible in the chill cabinet and because the EU Union list authorises it with a specific migration limit of 18 mg/kg. Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 lists the ester as FCM substance 207 under its systematic name DEHA, and 21 CFR 178.3740 authorises it in the United States at up to 24 % by weight of the vinyl chloride polymer for film of 0.005 inch or less and 35 % for film of 0.002 inch or less, for the specified food types. Both limits control the material, not the product.

A third rule names the film type directly. According to a secondary report of MFDS Notification 2026-24, Korea limits DEHA migration to 18 mg/L and requires it to be not detected in cling wrap, both from 27 March 2027. The complete film package, from antifog to acid scavenger, is on additives for food packaging, and the competing cling-film plasticizer is DINCH, recorded by the Hazardous Substances Data Bank at 10 % in fresh-meat film and 35 % in film for aqueous foods. No measured migration value for DEHA from cling film sits in our source library, so this page states the limits and no real-world figure.

Cold-service cable, hose and outdoor sheeting#

Cold-service PVC cable, hose and outdoor sheeting use DOA to move the brittleness point down, usually as a share of the plasticizer package rather than as the whole of it. The reason is the thermal ceiling measured by Kaya and colleagues in 2026, where the 50 phr DOA cable compound began to decompose at 236 °C, and the reason is also the volatility that the short adipic backbone brings with the cold flex.

Chain length is the lever a formulator pulls against both. Longer alcohol chains lower volatility and improve low-temperature flexibility according to the Hallstar trend data, while more branching does the opposite, so ester choice and blend ratio are set together. The rest of the insulation package, from stabilizer to flame retardant and filler, is on additives for wire and cable compounds.

Blends with DOTP, DINP and other general-purpose plasticizers#

Blending is the normal way DOA is used: a general-purpose plasticizer such as DOTP or DINP carries the bulk of the softening, and DOA is added to buy low-temperature flexibility that the general-purpose ester cannot supply. No blend-share figure for DOA is recorded in our source library, so this page describes the roles and publishes no percentage. DOTP / DEHT (dioctyl terephthalate) carries that bulk in most modern non-phthalate blends, and the Kaya 2026 series combined it with DOA and TOTM precisely to hold cold and heat performance at once.

How Does DOA Perform in PVC and Rubber?#

DOA buys low-temperature flexibility and pays for it in permanence: its typical substitution factor of 0.93 makes it more efficient than DEHP, its as-molded brittleness point in NBR is 9 °C lower than DOP's, and it loses most of that advantage after heat ageing. Efficiency, cold flex and permanence are the three indicators that decide an adipate specification, and only the first two favour DOA.

How much of the cold-flex advantage survives ageing? In the Hallstar NBR series at 20 pphr, the DOA compound moved from -42 °C as molded to -23 °C after 70 hours at 125 °C, while the DOP compound moved only from -33 °C to -25 °C, so the adipate ends the ageing test above the phthalate it started 9 °C below. Volatility is the mechanism behind that reversal, because the lighter, more mobile ester leaves the matrix faster at elevated temperature. Substitution factors for 15 plasticizers are listed on plasticizer efficiency and substitution factors, each one a typical value referenced to DEHP at 1.00.

Table T4. DOA performance indicators and the standards that measure them.

Test methods without values are still the specification language. Volatility is measured by ASTM D1203 Methods A and B and by ISO 176, migration by ISO 177, extraction by ASTM D1239 and brittleness by ASTM D2137, while Shore A hardness is read at 15 seconds under ISO 868 and ISO 7619-1 or under ASTM D2240. Our source library holds no volatility, migration or extraction figure for DOA, so this page names the method and leaves the number to the supplier's certificate. What those methods measure is set out on plasticizer migration, extraction and volatility.

How Does DOA Interact with Other Plasticizers and Additives?#

DOA is a blend component rather than a stand-alone plasticizer: formulators pair it with DOTP or DINP for permanence, with TOTM where heat resistance matters, and with ESBO as a co-stabilizer. The 3 interactions that govern a DOA recipe are listed below.

• General-purpose esters, DOTP and DINP, which carry the bulk of the softening and compensate for the volatility of the adipate.
• Trimellitates, above all TOTM, which lift the decomposition onset of the compound that DOA lowers, as the Kaya 2026 cable series showed at 50 phr.
• Epoxidised esters, above all ESBO, which act as co-stabilizers against dehydrochlorination while adding plasticizing capacity of their own.

Compatibility decides whether a blend holds together. Two esters and the resin stay in one phase while the differences between their solubility parameters remain within about 1.5 (cal/cm3)^0.5, and a component outside that window exudes instead of plasticizing. ESBO (epoxidized soybean oil) shows the dual role: Czogała and colleagues recorded in 2021 that it works as a co-stabilizer at 1 to 2 wt% and as a main plasticizer at 25 to 45 wt%, so the same ingredient is a stabilizer decision at one level and a plasticizer decision at another.

What Is the Regulatory Status of DOA?#

DOA is REACH-registered, is not a Substance of Very High Concern, is not restricted under REACH Annex XVII, and is authorised for EU food-contact plastics with a specific migration limit of 18 mg/kg and for US food-contact PVC film under 21 CFR 178.3740 (status 23 September 2026). Two cells below are open rather than negative: the US TSCA status and the California Proposition 65 entry for CAS 103-23-1 are not confirmed in our source library, and this page marks them as being verified.

Table T5. DOA regulatory matrix, as of 23 September 2026.

Restriction entries, not substance classes, decide what a compound may contain. Entry 51 limits DEHP, DBP, BBP and DIBP to 0.1 % by weight in the plasticised material of all articles since 7 July 2020, and entry 52 limits DINP, DIDP and DNOP to the same level in mouthable toys and childcare articles. Both entries and their exemptions are explained on REACH Annex XVII restrictions, and neither one names an adipate.

Is DOA REACH registered, and is it an SVHC?#

Yes, DOA is registered under REACH (Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006) with an active registration, and no, it is not a Substance of Very High Concern: it is absent from the Candidate List as of 23 September 2026. The registration sits under ECHA dossier 15293, and the tonnage band is not captured in our source library, so this page states none.

The contrast with the ortho-phthalate that DOA is blended with or replaces is exact. DEHP has been on the SVHC Candidate List since 28 October 2008 and later entered Annex XIV, while DOA has never been added to the list in the eighteen years since.

Is DOA allowed in food-contact plastics?#

Yes: DOA is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 as FCM substance 207 with a specific migration limit of 18 mg/kg, and it also counts against group restriction 32, which caps the sum of 22 plasticizers at 60 mg/kg. Group 32 gathers DEHA (207) with DEHP (283), DINP (728), DIDP (729), DINCH (775), ESBO (532) and DEHT (798), so a compound using more than one of them satisfies the individual limit and the group total at once. The overall migration limit of 10 mg/dm2, or 60 mg/kg for food intended for infants, applies on top of both, and both are explained on EU 10/2011.

In the United States, 21 CFR 178.3740 authorises di(2-ethylhexyl) adipate in vinyl chloride polymers at up to 24 % by weight for film of 0.005 inch or less and 35 % for film of 0.002 inch or less, for the specified food types, while 21 CFR 175.105 covers it in adhesives and 21 CFR 177.2600 in rubber articles under the name dioctyl adipate. That status is an authorisation for a specific use, not "FDA approved" and not "food grade". The thickness and food-type conditions of the section sit beside the other parts on FDA food contact rules for plastic additives, and the EU limit of 18 mg/kg is strict against the 60 mg/kg carried by DEHT and permissive against the 0.6 mg/kg carried by DEHP.

Which cling-film rules name DEHA directly?#

Korea is the jurisdiction that names DEHA in a cling-film rule: according to a secondary report of MFDS Notification 2026-24, adopted on 27 March 2026, DEHA migration is limited to 18 mg/L and must be not detected in cling wrap, both from 27 March 2027. European law works the other way, because the 18 mg/kg specific migration limit of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 attaches to the substance in any plastic food-contact material and names no film type at all. The Korean notification and its transition dates are tracked on Korea food contact standards for plastic additives, and the detail above stands on a secondary report until the MFDS text itself is in our source library.

Is DOA restricted in toys and childcare articles?#

DOA is not restricted in toys under REACH Annex XVII, US 16 CFR 1307 or Canada's SOR/2016-188, because all three rules list ortho-phthalates and none of them lists an adipate. The US rule prohibits DEHP, DBP and BBP permanently and DINP, DIBP, DPENP, DHEXP and DCHP from 25 April 2018 at concentrations above 0.1 %, the Canadian regulation lists DEHP, DBP, BBP, DINP, DIDP and DNOP, and entries 51 and 52 of Annex XVII cover the seven European ortho-phthalates.

One future instrument reaches further than a substance list. Regulation (EU) 2025/2509 bans CMR substances and endocrine disruptors in toys from 1 August 2030 on the basis of classification rather than a named list, and DOA carries no harmonised CMR classification under CLP. The 8 restricted phthalates, none of them an adipate, are listed on CPSIA phthalate limits.

Is DOA Toxic? Health, Safety and Environmental Profile#

DOA has no harmonised hazard classification under the EU CLP Regulation, and 1,012 of the 1,049 companies that notified it to ECHA report that it does not meet the GHS hazard criteria. Notification is a manufacturer statement rather than a regulatory decision, so the figure records an industry position, and the 37 divergent notifications belong to the same record.

Is dioctyl adipate toxic? The International Agency for Research on Cancer places the substance in Group 3, not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity to humans, which means the evidence was judged inadequate for a conclusion rather than that a negative finding was reached. Exposure from food contact is controlled by a migration limit rather than by a hazard classification, so the operative numbers are 18 mg/kg under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011 and the 24 % and 35 % film caps of 21 CFR 178.3740. The 3 status elements a buyer has to quote are listed below.

• Classification: no harmonised CLP entry; 1,012 of 1,049 notifiers report no GHS hazard criteria met.
• Carcinogenicity: IARC Group 3, not classifiable, from a secondary source being re-checked against the monograph list.
• Food contact: EU SML 18 mg/kg, group restriction 32 at 60 mg/kg, and the US caps of 24 % and 35 % by weight.

Concern about ortho-phthalates does not transfer across the class boundary. The debate summarised on phthalates: health effects concerns esters of ortho-phthalic acid with harmonised reproductive-toxicity classifications, above all DEHP with its Repr. 1B entry, and an adipate carries neither that structure nor that classification.

No LD50, NOAEL, endocrine-activity or aquatic-toxicity value for DOA sits in our source library, and no measured migration study for DEHA from cling film does either, so this page publishes none of them and leaves what migration studies measure to chemicals migrating from plastic food packaging. This site calls no substance safe or non-toxic; it reports classifications, limits and their dates.

What Are the Alternatives to DOA?#

The 4 main alternatives to DOA are the other low-temperature esters DINA, DIDA, DOS and DOZ, while DEHP (DOP) is the general-purpose ortho-phthalate that DOA is blended with or replaces. The table compares all six on identity, class, food-contact status and typical efficiency.

Table T6. DOA and its 5 alternatives compared.

Footnote: substitution factors are typical figures from one secondary source and not supplier data. The REACH dossier linked from PubChem for DOS shows "cease manufacture", so current registrations have to be checked before that ester is specified.

Full property data for the general-purpose esters sit on the plasticizer comparison page.

DOA vs DOP (DEHP): which plasticizer is better?#

DOA is the better choice wherever the part has to stay flexible in the cold or has to contact food in the EU, because it is more efficient at a typical substitution factor of 0.93 against 1.00, gives a brittleness point about 9 °C lower in NBR, and carries none of DEHP's harmonised Repr. 1B classification, SVHC listing or 0.1 % restriction in articles. The regulatory gap decides most cases: DEHP has sat on the Candidate List since 28 October 2008, on Annex XIV with a sunset date of 21 February 2015 and under Annex XVII entry 51 since 7 July 2020, while the adipate appears in none of the three.

The counter-case is permanence. DOA is more volatile and more extractable than the phthalate, it decomposes earlier in a cable compound, and it loses most of its cold-flex margin after 70 hours at 125 °C, so heat-aged and long-life parts take it as a blend component instead of a straight swap. DEHP has required authorisation for EU use since the 21 February 2015 sunset date, which removes it from new European formulations regardless of the technical comparison.

DOA vs DINA and DIDA#

DINA and DIDA are the higher-homologue adipates: they trade some efficiency for permanence, which is why DINA at a typical substitution factor of 1.01 and DIDA at 1.05 both need more material than DOA at 0.93 to reach the same hardness. DINA (CAS 33703-08-1, EC 251-646-7, C24H46O4, 398.6 g/mol) carries C9 alcohol chains and lower volatility than DEHA, and DINA (diisononyl adipate) is the usual answer where a cling film or a cold-flex cable has to survive longer at temperature.

DIDA carries the longest alcohol chain of the three adipates. DIDA (diisodecyl adipate) (CAS 27178-16-1, EC 248-299-9, C26H50O4, 426.7 g/mol) is authorised under 21 CFR 175.105 for adhesives and 21 CFR 177.2600 for repeated-use rubber articles, and it goes into low-temperature PVC and rubber where volatility rather than efficiency sets the specification. Neither DINA nor DIDA is listed in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, so neither can replace DOA in EU food-contact film without a different authorisation route.

DOA vs DOS and DOZ#

DOS and DOZ are the longer-diacid relatives of DOA: the sebacate (C10) and the azelate (C9) buy better low-temperature performance and lower volatility than the adipate (C6), at a higher price per kilogram. DOS (dioctyl sebacate) (CAS 122-62-3, C26H50O4, 426.7 g/mol) is the premium low-temperature ester for PVC, NBR and CR, authorised under 21 CFR 178.3910 and 177.2600, and the REACH dossier linked from its PubChem record shows a "cease manufacture" status that a specifier has to check first.

DOZ sits between the adipate and the sebacate at 9 backbone carbons. DOZ (di-2-ethylhexyl azelate) (CAS 103-24-2, C25H48O4, 412.6 g/mol) is authorised under 21 CFR 178.3740 at up to 24 % of the vinyl chloride polymer for film of 0.003 inch or less, a thinner gauge than the 0.005 inch that applies to DOA. Neither ester appears in Annex I of Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and the price relation above is directional, because no price figure for the three is recorded in our source library.

DOA vs DOTP and DINCH#

DOTP and DINCH are general-purpose non-phthalate plasticizers, not low-temperature ones: they carry the bulk of a formulation and leave the cold-flex job to DOA, which is why the three appear together in blends rather than as substitutes for each other. DOTP, also called DEHT (CAS 6422-86-2), is a terephthalate listed as FCM 798 with an SML of 60 mg/kg and a typical substitution factor of 1.03, and it is not an SVHC.

The food-contact limits differ by a factor of more than three across that pair, with DEHT at 60 mg/kg and DOA at 18 mg/kg, so a move from the adipate to the terephthalate loosens the migration budget while giving up cold flex. DINCH (Hexamoll DINCH) (CAS 166412-78-8, US product 474919-59-0) is the cyclohexanoate listed as FCM 775 with no individual migration limit and a place in group restriction 32, and the Hazardous Substances Data Bank records it in cling film at 10 % for fresh meat and 35 % for aqueous foods, which makes it the direct competitor of DOA in the one application DOA dominates.

Who Manufactures DOA? Grades and Suppliers#

DOA is sold under 5 established trade names, Plastomoll DOA, Vestinol OA, Kodaflex DOA, Adimoll DO and Jayflex DOA, with the Adimoll line belonging to Lanxess, Vestinol to Evonik and Jayflex to ExxonMobil. Two further producers publish DOA product pages of their own: Eastman lists a DOA Plasticizer product including a Kosher grade, and Nan Ya Plastics lists DOA as Di-(2-Ethylhexyl) Adipate, DEHA, Dioctyl Adipate, both read from the producers' pages on 23 September 2026 and both still to be added to our supplier records.

Table T7. DOA trade names and brand owners.

Footnote: we list a company only where our source library records it. Producers confirmed on their own product pages are added as our source library records them.

More producers, their regions and their product lines are listed in our directory of plasticizer manufacturers, which carries the company records this table leaves open. Buyers should ask for the CAS number on every offer, because the words "dioctyl adipate" alone do not identify the ester.

No DOA price level and no customs tariff code sit in our source library, so this page publishes neither, and the cost drivers for the adipate group are tracked on plasticizer prices.

How Do Adipates Fit into the Wider Plasticizer Family?#

DOA is the reference member of the adipate class, the aliphatic diesters that sit beside ortho-phthalates, terephthalates, trimellitates and cyclohexanoates in a plasticizer market of 8.4 million tonnes a year according to European Plasticisers. More than 85 % of European plasticiser volume goes into flexible PVC, so the class boundaries drawn on this page are boundaries inside one polymer market. The aliphatic diesters are built on four diacids, adipic (C6), glutaric (C5), azelaic (C9) and sebacic (C10), and their named members include DOA, DINA, DIDA, DOZ, DOS and DBS. The class as a whole is covered on adipate, azelate and sebacate plasticizers.

Adipates, azelates and sebacates compared#

Chain length is what separates the three classes: the adipate backbone has 6 carbons, the azelate 9 and the sebacate 10, and each added carbon lowers volatility and improves cold flex while reducing compatibility with PVC. A primary plasticizer softens the resin on its own, while a secondary plasticizer has limited compatibility and has to be used with a primary one, which is the position some long-chain aliphatic esters take at high loadings. The ether-ester variant of the adipate, DBEEA (dibutoxyethoxyethyl adipate) (CAS 141-17-3, 434.6 g/mol), is built for elastomers and keeps more of its cold-flex advantage after ageing, at -31 °C against the -23 °C of DOA in the same Hallstar series.

Where else the abbreviation DEHA appears#

The abbreviation DEHA has a second chemical owner: diethylhydroxylamine, an oxygen scavenger used in boiler-water treatment, which is not a plastic additive and is unrelated to bis(2-ethylhexyl) adipate. The oxygen scavengers actually used in packaging are a different family again, covered on oxygen scavengers for plastic packaging. The ester itself also appears in fragrance and cosmetic formulation, a use outside the scope of this plastics reference, which records no dosage and makes no claim for it.

Is DOA banned anywhere?#

No: DOA is not banned or restricted under the EU, US or Canadian rules covered on this page, and the only tightening on the horizon is the Korean cling-wrap requirement that applies from 27 March 2027 (status 23 September 2026). The restrictions compared on phthalate restrictions worldwide reach ortho-phthalates only.

Can DOA replace DOP one-to-one?#

Not on hardness alone: at a typical substitution factor of 0.93, about 46.5 phr DOA matches the hardness of 50 phr DOP, but the higher volatility of the adipate means the swap is normally partial. The arithmetic is exact and the factor is a typical secondary-source value, so the heat-ageing result decides the final ratio. The swap can be run in the plasticizer substitution calculator.

Does DOA migrate out of cling film?#

Migration is the reason DOA carries a limit rather than a ban: EU law caps the specific migration of DEHA at 18 mg/kg of food under Regulation (EU) No 10/2011, and Korea requires it to be not detected in cling wrap from 27 March 2027. Our source library holds no measured migration value for DEHA from cling film, so this page reports the limits and no measurement.