Propylene glycol is an organic compound, usually a slightly sweet, odorless, colorless and transparent oily liquid that absorbs moisture and easily mixes with water, acetone, and chloroform. mix. Propylene glycol has a wide range of applications and is often used as a hygroscopic agent, antifreeze, lubricant and solvent in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
The applications of propylene glycol in medicine are as follows:
Propylene glycol has good solubility, low toxicity and irritation, and is widely used as injections (such as intramuscular injections, intravenous injections) and non-injection pharmaceutical preparations (such as oral liquids, eye preparations, ear preparations, dental preparations, rectal preparations) Vaginal preparations, transdermal preparations, etc.) solvents, extraction solvents and preservatives are better solvents than glycerin and can dissolve many substances such as corticosteroids (sex hormones), chloramphenicol, sulfa drugs, barbiturates acid salts, reserpine, quinidine, dehydrocorticosterone acetate, tetrahydrofuran sulfate, nitrogen mustard, vitamin A, vitamin D, many volatile oils, most alkaloids and many local anesthetics.
As a bacteriostatic agent, propylene glycol is similar to ethanol, and its efficacy in inhibiting mold is similar to that of glycerin and slightly lower than that of ethanol. Propylene glycol is commonly used as a plasticizer in aqueous film coating materials. An equal-amount mixture with water can delay the hydrolysis of certain drugs and increase the stability of the preparation. 15% to 30% propylene glycol solutions and semi-solid preparations can be used as antibacterial preservatives, about 15% propylene glycol topical preparations can be used as moisturizers, 10% to 30% propylene glycol aerosol solvents, 10% to 25 % of propylene glycol oral solutions, 10% to 60% of injectable preparations, and 5% to 80% of topical preparations are used as solvents and co-solvents.