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Testing for Active Ingredient
Hi Everyone,
My product is liquid soap. I use chemicals like LAS, SLES, SLS, Cocamide, Coco betaine in my formulation. Now I am being asked by regulatory agent to test for active substance in my soap. How do I do this? I need your advice. Thank you. -
16 Replies
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Run a volatiles/solids and a water content test? How much info is needed?
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@bobzchemist: thanks a lot. But could you please share more info on what the test entails or a link to where more info could be obtained.
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I could, but I won’t. This is not a complicated subject to research, or one that requires specialized knowledge.
If you can post on this site, you can run a google search yourself. If you have specific questions about one of the tests, I will be happy to help. -
You don’t seem to have any actives in your formula from what you have listed.
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@Davidw: you mean linear alkyl sulphonic acid, cocoamido isopropyl betaine, sodium laureth sulphate, cocamide are not active ingredient in liquid soap?
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Active Surfactant Matter is all we are talking about here I suppose.
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If you mean what milliachemist mentions then this post will tell you how to determine active surface matter - http://itsallinmyhands.com/2013/04/23/on-surfactants-and-formulation-face-wash-shampoo-and-shower-gels/
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@milliachemist: yes
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@Bimsmide MakingSkincare has posted a plausible and acceptable link.
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@milliachemist yes. @makingskincare many thanks for the link. But is there analytical procedure to proof that this is the % of ASM I have in my finished product? Thank you.
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an Epton titration will give you a rough idea of the ionic surfactant content, as a quick and easy method
HPLC is the most rigorous technique I can think of, and will yield the most information - but the kit is very expensive, and setting it up and running it correctly is not a task to be taken lightly
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To me these/this is not active ingredients. This is solids. Active ingredients has the connotation of referring to a drug product and it’s active ingredients.
If they want a quantification then send it to a lab and test for solids.
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The term “active ingredient” in cosmetics is confusing. I agree with @DavidW that active ingredients are specifically ones that can support drug claims (At least in the US).
What most people call active ingredients I think of as “functional ingredients”. These are ingredients that actually make the product work. So functional ingredients in a cleansing product would be surfactants. In a moisturizer the functional ingredients are the occlusive agents, the humectants and the emollients.It can be confusing though. -
@perry why confusing,it is clear that in liquid soap the active ingredient is anionic surfactant.
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@bimsmide your active ingredients are SLES and SLS. others like betain are cosurfactant. however we have test for determining the amphoteric active.
in your soap we can have these tests:
1- determination of anionic active(titration with hyamine)
2- determination of amphoteric active (titration with hyamine)
3- pH test
3- salt content test( if u add NaCl) -
Thank you everyone, @nasrins your contribution is particularly informative.
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