Water Soluble Tea Tree Oil - Chemists Corner

Formulating

Water Soluble Tea Tree Oil

Posted by belassi on January 8, 2015 at 6:31 pm

This PDF from Lubrizol gives an anti-acne gel using tea tree oil.

I already have an anti-acne gel product but without tea tree oil and I’d like to make an enhanced version.

The Lubrizol formula uses water-soluble tea tree oil, given as:

Tea Tree (Melaleuca Alternifolia) Oil (and) PEG-

40 Hydrogenated Castor Oil (and) Polysorbate

20 (and) Water

I have TTO but not the water-soluble version. Obviously I don’t want a milky appearance. I do have polysorbate 20 but not hydrogenated castor oil. I have PEG-7 glyceryl cocoate, how about using that instead? I suppose about equal portions of each? That would imply a concentration of 0.9% TTO which seems about right. Anyone like to give an opinion please?

belassi replied 9 years, 4 months ago 5 Members · 12 Replies
12 Replies

MarkBroussard

Member
January 8, 2015 at 9:19 pm

Yes Belassi:

Dissolve 1 Part Tea Tree Oil in 19 Parts 1,3-Propanediol.
Chemist77

Member
January 9, 2015 at 12:01 am

Yup the trick is to pump in enough solubilizer where the oil remains completely solubilized in the final formulation just as I do in the case of salicylic acid and prevent it from recrystalization in the formula.
belassi

Member
January 9, 2015 at 1:06 am

OK. I will try with various concentrations in plain water at first, no sense in wasting lots of gel.
belassi

Member
January 10, 2015 at 3:48 pm

My lab is freezing cold so a positive disincentive to do experiments, but I have got to this point:

tea tree oil, 1g

polysorbate 20, 3.5g

peg-7 glyceryl cocoate, 2g.

At which point I have a clear solution in water. Tiny batch though. More work needed.
alam

Member
January 13, 2015 at 6:10 am

Hi Belassi,

you can utilize tea tree oil with mixture of Polysorbate - 20 & ethyl alcohol, but need to reduce the percentage of tea tree oil. this may work.
DavidW

Member
January 14, 2015 at 6:50 pm

Tea Tree is a pain I have found. I think we use 3:1 each of NP 9 and triton X100. I’m not certain. IF you private message me I will give you my email and I can check in the morning
belassi

Member
January 14, 2015 at 6:58 pm

Aha. Good to know I am not the only one having trouble solubilising it. Thanks. Those two you mentioned are both Dow Chemical products, unfortunately not obtainable here. Still, it seems that my 3.5 to 1 and 2 to 1 ratios are not “out the window” then? Regarding ethanol, I don’t want to use that in the product, too drying.
DavidW

Member
January 16, 2015 at 8:50 am

I checked and we use polysorabte 20 and Octoxynol 10, 2 parts of each to 1 tea tree. Just to be clear on this it is a total of 4 parts to 1 part tea tree.
MarkBroussard

Member
January 16, 2015 at 10:56 am

http://www.aromaland.com/Water_Soluble_Essential_Oils_s/240.htm
belassi

Member
January 16, 2015 at 12:53 pm

Interesting, thanks. Those aromaland products are a pretty price!
MarkBroussard

Member
January 16, 2015 at 12:58 pm

Yes, but note that they use a “coconut emulsifier” … So, you’re on the right track with glyceryl cocoate
belassi

Member
January 16, 2015 at 1:59 pm

Thanks Mark. I think, then, that I’ll try to establish the minimum solubilization requirement with different possibles: Polysorbate-20, Polysorbate-80, Glyceryl cocoate, and anything else I have on the shelf that seems appropriate.