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Alpha-lipoic acid or A.L.A.
Hi … I’ve been experimenting making my own serums for wrinkles and recently purchased some alpha-lipoic acid powder to make a 5% solution in water …so in 30ml I put 6 ml of ALA and the powder doesnt seem to disolve..it looks grainy ..any suggestions ..should I maybe mix it with hot water ??
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14 Replies
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When you are working with a material, you can look up its solubility profile in various solvents. You’ll almost always find solubility in water number.
For alpha lipoic acid, it is only barely soluble in water. (0.24 g/L) This means the highest concentration you can use in an aqueous formula is 0.024%. Heating the water will not help.
It is soluble in ethanol so you might try making a serum with that or creating some kind of emulsion.
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@joanlante
6 mL of ALA, did you mean 6 g?If so, 6 mL or 6 g, in 30 mL of water will give you a 17% solution, not 5%.
Emulsions work well in solubilizing the otherwise water-insoluble ALA, most commercial formulations with lipoic acid are, in fact, emulsions of some kind.
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It’s soluble in glycols. I solubilised 5% in propanediol. It required 20 minutes mixing on the magnetic stirrer without heating.
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Such a mysterious ingredient.. I really want to be skeptical because I didn’t find a mechanism that would make it work overnight but it makes skin look better overnight like AHA would. Does anyone know if there’s a reason why it might work? I understand it’s not because it’s an antioxidant, is there any keratolityc effect maybe?
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@Imosca, it’s prone to oxidation in presence oF water. I read the best way to deal with it is to solubilize It in glycol and the mix with a base cream right before application.
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lmosca said:@joanlante
6 mL of ALA, did you mean 6 g?If so, 6 mL or 6 g, in 30 mL of water will give you a 17% solution, not 5%.
Emulsions work well in solubilizing the otherwise water-insoluble ALA, most commercial formulations with lipoic acid are, in fact, emulsions of some kind.
yes I’m measuring by volume and not weight… 17% !!!! ooops ..I think I’m gonna have to run all mixtures with you all ..lol
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ngarayeva001 said:
It’s soluble in glycols. I solubilised 5% in propanediol. It required 20 minutes mixing on the magnetic stirrer without heating.
…A MAGNETIC STIRRER ?
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here is the product I purchased …I guess it was a waste of money to make facial serums with this A.L.A. … my serums include *vit C (I grind the powder to make it more soluble)*..DMAE …hyaluronic acid and add some vegetable glycerin and a few drops of essential oils … -
@ngarayeva lipoic acid is provided already in the oxidized form (disulfide, or with the S-S bond). It is converted in-vivo by reduction to the active form (dithiol, or with two -SH groups).
I am not aware of its mechanism of action, though. Thiols (-SH) are indeed antioxidants (because they can be reoxidized to the disulfide form, just like glutathione does), and they are powerful nucleophiles, so they may have a keratolytic effect.
ALA is not essential, as it can be introduced from diet and can be synthesized by the body and is a key enzyme co-factor in cellular respiration and cytoprotection.
Maybe someone else on this forum knows more (thinking about @Pharma).
@joanlante you should measure solids by weight and not by volume.
I don’t think you should throw that ingredient away (ALA is not cheap, for a start). Just research a way to properly formulate it. You can make water-like serums with propanediol, for example. Or you can switch to a lotion-like emulsion that will dissolve (although I don’t know how much) a bigger amount of ALA than water alone would.
I’ve never used ALA myself so I can’t say if I find it useful or not, if you do, then use it! -
It has an effect similar to glycolic acid. Skin looks more even next morning if you apply it overnight. I am normally extremely sceptical, but I am just a human. Maybe it’s a placebo. Maybe I just see something that isn’t there.
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@ngarayeva001, I love my overnight AHA! I might consider trying out lipoic acid and compare the two at some point.
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lmosca said:Thanks for the flowers! Though I know a lot I don’t know everything, sorry.In its oxidised form (which is fairly stable unless exposed to heat or UV light), it doesn’t do much and I can’t see anything obvious. The only three effects it might have apart from being an important and potent antioxidant once ‘bio-activated’ are antimicrobial activities (only shown with certain bacterial varieties), emollient effects (much like similar small molecules), and maybe the kind of optical illusion as (not) seen with stearic acid based vanishing creams (dunno if you get that joke LoL). ALA applied as propanediol solution is likely to crystallise out once the solvent penetrates skin. The forming tiny crystal flakes on top of the skin might reflect light in a peculiar way which lets skin look brighter. But I’m speculating here!AFAIK the cyclic oxidation product of dihydrolipoic acid (i.e. lipoic acid) drives it to preferentially undergo two electron redox reactions over nucleophilic attacks. How that should visibly and overnight translate to a brighter skin appearance remains elusive to me especially because it’s not that easily, let alone quantitatively and uncontrolled, reduced from ALA in vivo. -
I bought it first time because a friend told me about its ‘magical’ properties (the ordinary, and then I bought the raw material and mixed my own). I had an intention to prove that wrong because I didn’t find any scientific justification (it’s not AHA) and people like to believe in things that make them feel good. To my shame I noticed the difference, which, I admit, is totally anecdotal evidence. I will probably continue using it as there’s no harm in using an antioxidant, but thank you all for confirming there’s no mechanism for delivering visible changes.
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@joanlante, you can mix it manually but it will take you a while. I noted that I used a magnetic stirrer to dissolve ALA in propanediol to specify that you don’t need high shear.
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