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. 2006 Mar 10;7(1):E146–E152. doi: 10.1208/pt070121

Micro-emultocrit technique: A valuable tool for determination of critical HLB value of emulsions

Janus P F Macedo 1,, Leonardo L Fernandes 1, Fábio R Formiga 1, Michael F Reis 1, Toshiyuiky Nagashima Júnior 1, Luiz A L Soares 1, E Socrates T Egito 1,
PMCID: PMC2750728  PMID: 28290036

Abstract

The aim of this work was to develop a methodology for rapid determination of the critical hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) value of lipophilic fractions of emulsions. The emulsions were prepared by the spontaneous emulsification process with HLB value from 4.3 to 16.7. The preparations were stored at 2 different temperatures (25°C and 4°C) and their physicochemical behavior was evaluated by the micro-emultocrit technique and the long-term stability study. The experimental data show a reverse relationship between HLB values of the surfactant mixtures and emulsion stability. A close correlation between the results for both stability procedures was observed, suggesting the use of micro-emultocrit to predict stabilities of such systems. In addition, it was found that the critical HLB of the Mygliol 812 was 15.367.

Keywords: emulsions, hydrophilic-lipophilic balance, spontaneous emulsification process, micro-emultocrit, creaming index, stability

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