Home Cosmetic Science Talk Formulating Serum 15% vitamin C

  • Serum 15% vitamin C

    Posted by Ronit on June 9, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    I’m
    trying to produce vitamin C serum which have 15% vitamin C (Ascorbyl
    palmitate).
    If I want to make 50 ml serum, for 15% vitamin c, I need 7.5 grams Ascorbyl palmitate.
    But it’s an enormous amount of powder that not melting with that amout of water
    and oils (42.5 ml of oils and water).
    what do I do wrong?

    other thing:
    When I mix small molecule (such as Ascorbic
    acid) and large molecule (such as protein), is it still penetrate the skin?

    Thanks

    Doreen replied 5 years, 5 months ago 7 Members · 17 Replies
  • 17 Replies
  • Doreen

    Member
    June 9, 2019 at 6:31 pm

    Ascorbyl palmitate has a low solubility and poor rate of dissolution in oil (30 mg/100 ml at room temperature). Do you add it to the heated oil phase?

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    June 9, 2019 at 10:49 pm

    @Ronit:

    You’ll never get 15% Ascorbyl Palmitate into a serum.  As @doreen noted it has poor solubility in oil and at that you have to heat the oil phase to 115C to get even 0.3% in solution.

    If you want an oil-based Vitamin C serum you should use tetrahexadecyl ascorbate.  3% should be fine … serums with 15% to 20% Vitamin C are generally when you use Ascorbic Acid as the Vitamin C ingredient.

  • Pharma

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 12:06 pm

    Or you use sodium or potassium ascorbyl palmitate. It’s an anionic emulsifier which forms micelles in water if heated to roughly 35°C.

  • Ronit

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 6:35 pm

    Sorry for the misunderstanding, but I hated the Ascorbyl palmitate with oil to 85 degrees. When phase A has cooled down (40 degrees) I add phase B (water,
    lecithin, etc). In fact, I made the amount of 3% because 15% is just impossible.

    Of course with 15%  Ascorbic
    acid there is no problem to melt it, but everywhere I read about making vitamin
    C serum ,and if I want it will be effective
    ,
    they recommend it contain 15%-20% vitamin C. As Ascorbic acid is unstable,
    every one use oily derivatives
    of vitamin C .

    I even looked the ingredients list for companies that sell  vitamin C serum, especially those who write that the product
    contains 20% vitamin C. The result is that it always contain one of the oily derivatives.

    So if it’s the oily derivatives do I need to use 15% or less??

     

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 6:39 pm

    @Ronit:

    The 15%+ is the most effective range for Ascorbic Acid … actually, it’s 17%.

    What “oily derivatives” of Vitamin C are you finding loaded at a 15% level?

  • Pharma

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 6:47 pm

    BTW, 15% ascorbic acid equivalents equal 35% ascorbyl palmitate or 96% tetrahexadecyl ascorbate. Just saying…

  • Ronit

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 6:59 pm

    MarkBroussard - they write 20% THD Ascorbate, 2% Ferulic Acid and 3% Vitamin E. the vit C is Tetrahexyldecyl Ascorbate.
     Do they put from that only 6.4% (if it equivalents to 96%)?

  • MarkBroussard

    Member
    June 10, 2019 at 9:07 pm

    If they are putting 20% Tetrahexadecyl Ascorbate on the label, then technically is should be 20% Tetrahexadecyl Ascorbate.  The manufacturer’s studies are conducted at a 3% THD Ascorbate load.  That’s a very expensive formula at 20% THD Ascorbate.  Some of these companies are getting somewhat ridiculous on the elevated levels of Vitamin C they are adding into serums, just imho.

  • Ronit

    Member
    June 11, 2019 at 7:05 am

    Intresting….Thanks alot

    so if I want effective serum and equivalents to 15% ascorbic acid, Its enough  to add 2.3% ascorbyl palmitate or its better 3%?

  • ngarayeva001

    Member
    June 12, 2019 at 1:14 pm

    Pharma said:

    BTW, 15% ascorbic acid equivalents equal 35% ascorbyl palmitate or 96% tetrahexadecyl ascorbate. Just saying…

    96%… I heard controversial opinions about tetrahexadecyl ascorbate. Some papers suggest it works but the sample is too small. I used 10% for a couple of months (made it myself, I don’t think you can buy it at a such concentration) and didn’t notice any difference.

  • OldPerry

    Member
    June 12, 2019 at 1:38 pm

    @Ronit - what do you mean by “effective serum”?  What claims are you making about it?  How do you determine that the serum is effective?

  • chickenskin

    Member
    June 12, 2019 at 3:56 pm
  • Ronit

    Member
    June 12, 2019 at 7:12 pm

    96%… I heard controversial opinions about tetrahexadecyl ascorbate. Some papers suggest it works but the sample is too small. I used 10% for a couple of months (made it myself, I don’t think you can buy it at a such concentration) and didn’t notice any difference.

    You use 10% ? If its equivalents to 96% why you do that? or you didn’t know?

    Perry said:

    @Ronit - what do you mean by “effective serum”?  What claims are you making about it?  How do you determine that the serum is effective?

    Effective mean: antioxidant, skin firmness, protect from free radicals, minimise wrinkles signs, photo protective etc
    It is poss to get that by 10%-20% of vit C (and as I understand yesterday, these percents are for ascorbic acid)

    chickenskin - I read it later (with the links)

  • Pharma

    Member
    June 12, 2019 at 9:01 pm
    Urks…. Hey guys/girls: The other way round!
    Tetrahexyldecyl ascorbate (THA) is a huge molecule with a comparatively small part being actually ascorbic acid (AA)! If you were to take a 15% AA solution and magically transformed it to THA, the solution would contain 96% THA and there’d be only 4% left for other ingredients. THA is not more active or anything, it’s just sort of diluted in itself (well, theoretically it is more active, that’s the official trick of THA but that’s a different story). Idem for ascorbyl palmitate (AP) wherein only 30% is AA, the remaining 70% is a fatty acid. Hence, it’s not that easy to switch from an concentrated AA formula to an AP and even more tricky to a THA formula.
    That’s one reason why ascorbyl phosphate, ethyl ascorbic acid, and ascorbyl glucoside became more prominent: These molecules have a comparatively small molecular weight (obviously still higher than pure AA) i.e. you don’t need that much more than with the older derivatives.
  • Ronit

    Member
    June 13, 2019 at 6:43 pm

    So what is the conclusion? 

    Is there a site/table that show how
    to calculate the percentage of ascorbyl
    palmitate (or any oily vit C) with regard to AA?

    How much AP do I need to add if AA is 15%, 16% and 17% ?

    Further to what you write
    here – 30%  small molecule 70% large molecule,
    is it still penetrate
    the skin and do the same work as AA do ?

  • Pharma

    Member
    June 13, 2019 at 7:51 pm
    A site or table? Use molecular weight!
    AA is water soluble and depending on pH even a charged molecule whereas the aforementioned derivatives are fat soluble and charge neutral. Hence, these still small molecules are better in penetrating skin than free AA. On the downside, they have to be metabolised to become active. In theory, this is a great strategy. In reality… IDK (never read any paper bout this).
  • Doreen

    Member
    June 14, 2019 at 9:45 am

    @ngarayeva001 

    96%… I heard controversial opinions about tetrahexadecyl ascorbate. Some papers suggest it works but the sample is too small. I used 10% for a couple of months (made it myself, I don’t think you can buy it at a such concentration) and didn’t notice any difference.

    Apparently there are several brands using it at 20% to even (way) higher.
    I have documents regarding, but unfortunately I still can’t upload files here.

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