Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid

  • Low Molecular Weight Hyaluronic Acid

    Posted by Mich on September 20, 2017 at 12:41 am

    Does anyone have experieced issued formulating with HA?  I never had any formulation issues until I faced this one.  I added about 0.5% powder LMW HA to the water phase along with Urea and Na Lactate, Beta Glucan. I am using W/O non-ionic sugar emulsifiers (cetearyl alcohol and cetearyl glucoside and arachidyl glucoside)+ Sepinov EMT10.  The emulsion either coalesced without forming an emulsion or formed a curd mass.
     I got the same emulsion base for another product without HA and there is no problem.  I suspect the Na Lactate and/or Urea could be causing my emulsion to coalesce or incompatibility with emulsion system.  By the way, this is hot process to 75Celcius.
    Any thoughts? 

    MarkBroussard replied 7 months, 1 week ago 3 Members · 5 Replies
  • 5 Replies
  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    September 20, 2017 at 12:58 am

    Yes … HA if added before you form the emulsion can inhibit formation of the emulsion, particularly if it is anything other than Super Low Molecular Weight HA.  Higher MW HA’s tend to form gels if used at 0.5% and above and this gel formation can interfere with emulsification.  Form your emulsion and then add the HA during the cool down phase at 50C or so … then mix, don’t homogenize.

    I would also recommend adding the Urea and Sodium Lactate post emusification as both will elevate the pH and may interfere with the emulsifiers.

  • Mich

    Member
    September 20, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    Thanks Mark,
    The only challenging part is that I need to solubilize the at least 0.25% of the HA powder and I will not have enough water to solubilize if I want to add it post emulsion.

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    September 20, 2017 at 4:56 pm

    @Mich:

    Then switch to a Super Low Molecular Weight HA and you won’t have any problems.  You could hydrate the full 0.5% pre-emulsification and you should not have any problems.  Or, use 0.25% SLMW HA upfront and add 0.25% LMW HA post-emulsification.

    • JThompson

      Member
      March 15, 2024 at 7:24 pm

      Thanks for this response, Mark! I’ve joined this forum looking for this exact answer. I use HMW HA at 1% and LMW at 1% for an emulsified serum and have been adding both to my water phase after hydrating. I homogenize for what feels like ages until I finally reach emulsification…. For a few weeks. Strangest thing is my separation begins from the bottom a few weeks down the road. Similar recommendations for switching up my method as well?

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    April 28, 2024 at 3:09 pm

    Yes, two issues with your approach. If you are using a Hyaluronic Acid greater than 50 kDa, it will gel. Two, if you add the HA prior to emulsification, the homogenization is shreding the HA chains. You will first need to form the emulsion w/o adding any HA, and then add the pre-hydrated HA post-emulsification. Higher molecular weights of HA can interfere with the formation of the emulsion if added pre-emulsification.

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