Pharma
Forum Replies Created
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It was a pleasure to read through this thread 🙂 !A small note on synergies: Xanthan shows synergism with several galacto-mannans (a frequently found type of non-ionic gums) such as (in decreasing order of synergism) locust bean gum aka carob gum > guar gum > tara gum ~ konjak.Regarding Acacia gum aka gum Arabic: We used to use that and Tragacanth in different pharmaceutical preparations. I never really liked their feel… however, I’ve never tried either of the two at lower % in cosmetic preparations. I think I still have some native ones somewhere in my collection. I guess I now have to reincarnate at least the Acacia gum (if I can find it). One of its main constituents are arabinogalactan proteins which show a unique emulsion stabilising effect related to Pickering emulsions or hydrophobically modified polyacrylates. -
Do not use ANY KIND of preservative/pesticide on flower buds. First: Most crops are regulated (cannabis is usually not) so that the consumer does not eat too much chemicals and second, decomposition due to combustion is unknown and a real issue with that particular plant. I understand how bad it feels to lose a crop (we had a piss poor year, my chilis had only 1-2 fruits each and the other crop has botryris too). It sucks but that’s life. I would NEVER use anything on hemp/cannabis (on younger plants possibly but these do not require treatment unless you’re doing it wrong).Depending on local regulations there might not even be any available treatment/prevention of any hemp diseas (I don’t know US regulations but it’s well possible that they have regulations as well which restrict and/or allow certain pesticides for certain plants/plant organs/seasons and parabens are not approved pesticides). With hemp, he might consider switching to a variety which is better suited for his climate. Medicinal varieties are often best suited for indoor cultivation or fairly narrow local climates with the risk of having a bad season once every few years. There are hundreds of new varieties popping up since the hype but many are unstable crosses of people who don’t know how to breed plants (let alone hemp) and many aren’t selected for being hardy plants but high yielding monsters and these are prone to diseases which were unknown to hemp. Some can be treated during the vegetative phase and with organic (non-synthetic) means… botrytis shows up in late flowering and whatever you spray on the plant then will end up in the consumers.Besides that: parabens are metabolised by plants to form para-hydroxybenzoic acid which has allelopathical and ‘pharmacological’ effects on plants (e.g. reduces plant growth and negatively affects water homeostasis). Parabens also affect soil microbial life and this is probably going to backfire too (maybe not this season but next one or the one after that…).If he lost his crop due to botrytis after harvest, then he’s clearly doing something wrong. My advice there would be: Change your contact, he’s not the only large marijuana cultivator in the USA but clearly one of those who picked the wrong job. Sure, even the best ones can have losses after harvest due to mould but the mere thought of adding something to prevent or, worse, treat it instead of doing a good job… the heck!
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L-Lysine is a nutrient supplement which, based more on experience & hearsay than real science, can act as anti-metabolite by displaceing arginine (a limiting building block for virus biosynthesis). Lysine has to get to the basal layer of skin where the herpes virus dwells at sufficiently high levels and that is highly unlikely to happen if topically applied due to the physical properties of lysine.If you want a product which shows a hypothetical effect, than you might want to incorporate it at the highest feasible level and, by preference, as free base (which isn’t soluble = would need to be incorporated as suspension).
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Are you sure you have sodium PCA? Liquid sodium PCA 50% is a 50% solution in water. The powder/crystalline form would be 100% sodium PCA which is very hygroscopic and tends to attract water from air which leads to clumping and finally melting of the salt if you let it sit around for some time.If it doesn’t immediately dissolve in water, it’s either PCA or something else entirely. Sodium PCA isn’t soluble in polysorbates and, I don’t know but suppose, PCA wouldn’t dissolve with polysorbate either.
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Na PCA 50%? Isn’t that a 50% solution in water?Anyway, sodium PCA has very good solubility in water which is so good, you don’t have to bother about it because it’s likely always higher than the concentration of sodium PCA used in a cosmetic product.
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@Belassi Ignor above post, it’s a brain-melt and @Perry will delete it.Half the post is okay and parabens aren’t great if heated too much but there’s no nitrogen present and toxicity is lower… if I find something out, I’ll let you know.
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@Graillotion Could you do me a favour and simply copy-paste my mail replies? Too lazy to re-type everything 🙂 .
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It’s not just microbial lipases which break down triglycerides. Living skin cells (all living cells for that matter) will do the same. Unlike microbes, skin do it in a very ordered and highly regulated way whilst microbes secrete enzymes in order to digest their environment for easier take up.Providing omega-3 and other polyunsaturated fatty acids can have a benefit. However, good scientific evidence regarding topical supplementation is scarce and often contradictory (even oral supplementation isn’t always evident).Restoring skin barrier is a physical function as much as it’s a physiological one and both are a result of many different factors. There is not one answer and the instant you apply a mixture of ingredients, things can change dramatically compared to published/scientific studies.
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For most non-water soluble ones pH is about as much of an issue as it is for triglycerides and waxes. Slightly and, more so, water soluble esters are a bit more susceptible to hydrolysis. However, it takes quite extreme pH values, heat, and/or a fair amount of time to break them down to a noticeable level.
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H2O2 is the fastest to act but it’s liquid and always contains >2/3 water.Isocyanurates are, if I’m not mistaken, ‘slow release’ chemicals and better suited for pools or those tablets which hang in a crate inside the toilet.
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No, it’s chemically bound glycerol and does not act like free glycerol. Neither do the fatty acids which make up the other part of triglycerides.
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Those formulations look more like one issue which isn’t microbial: rancidity of grapeseed oil. Tocopherol can help, maybe think about adding ascorbyl palmitate or other oil soluble antioxidants or simply replace it with a more stable oil?
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Do you understand you right that you mean sodium lactate as preservative? Nope, that’s certainly not working.Define ‘natural’…. natural is a very ambiguous term and can be twisted and interpreted every which way. If there’s no water, higher pH, and probably some polyols (glycerol, sorbitol), you’ll be fine.
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You can use phosphoric acid. It is possible to estimate by calculation though using a table is easier. In the end, you’d have to manually adjust anyways.You can also use citric acid instead.
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The buffer should be bring the product to the aimd at pH (i.e. 6.2ish). However, a good buffer will have its buffering range around pH 6 to 7 (and not, as an example, an upper limit at 6).
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@ozgirl is on the right track: Given the large available quantity of ‘natural’ glycerol these days, I suspect that it’s rather an impurity of an ingredient of the class of glyceryl ether derivative. Most likely candidates are probably chlorphenesin, ethylhexylglycerin, polyglyceryl esters, and alkyl glyceryl ethers. Epichlorohydrin may also come from packaging.
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There’s a quite recent post with that exact topic. Use the search function.
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Do you have a LOI of the affected product?
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The issue with urea is that once it starts degrading it increases pH and that in turn accelerates degradation. A chemical vicious cycle. And that’s wyh you’re on the safer side with some additives which stop the pH from rising.
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Padmavathi said:…
Should I be adding something else to stabilise urea?
…Yes. With 15% urea you should. Adjust pH to around 6.2 (rather lower than higher), use a buffer if possible, and add triethyl citrate or triacetin.
BTW this only increases shelf life of urea but does not prevent crystal formation. Adding glycerin or another liquid diol/polyol might help with that. -
Since the ban of borax about 7 years ago, I haven’t seen Slime very often. Seems like the alternatives aren’t much enjoyed.Borax also acts as preservative, it increases pH, and functions as a buffer… it does so many things and that’s one of the reasons why it’s so hard to find an alternative. The ban was under others justified by the existence of alternatives; however, there are only alternatives for single effects but not the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong, this is regret only on a chemical level and I think it was the right decision to ban borax/boric acid.
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There is no product which could replace borax 1:1 when making SLIME. You’d have to come up with something totally different with regard to the ingredients (like GLOOZE slime).Boric acid and borax covalently react with PVA, PVAc, HEC, guar gum, HPG, or whatever suitable polymer you use and crosslinks the polymeric chains to form the highly viscous toy. This is possible because boric acid is a Lewis acid with unique properties. Aluminium and iron chloride are theoretical alternatives… however, they aren’t safer than their boron counterparts.Alum, guar gum, and a base might be the closest you can easily get with halfway safe household ingredients (this is called Galacto-Slime)… that is, if you consider aluminium any better than borax. In this case, aluminium ions crosslink by electrostatic interactions more than covalent bonds. It should be possible to crosslink acidic polymers with other metallic cations like iron, titanium, zirconium, or chromium as well… toxicity still remains an issue (especially with chromium).Regarding shelf life: Add a bunch of preservatives. Mommy bloggers gonna love your products! :smiley:
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Depends on the intended use of your product.
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1. It means you shift to another type of emulsion and the end result would be inverse micelles.2. Salt only works well on ionic emulsifiers. It would also work (regarding changing the system, not necessarily changing it to a higher viscosity) with nonionics but takes more salt, too much to be of any use.The increase in viscosity has to do with the kind of micelles which are formed, not just their size. For exampel worm-like of sheet-like emulsifier arrangements are more viscous than drop-like ones.3. I don’t think that micelle size has anything to do with skin irritation.