Ethanol precipitation for the purification of herbal medicines

By Jillian Jastrzembski

March 26, 2024

Ethanol precipitation is a simple, efficient process that allows for the purification of traditional medicine herbal formulas. This technology operates on the principal that most bioactive compounds are increasingly soluble in higher ethanol concentrations, while compounds that are irrelevant or unsafe are usually less soluble. Increasing the ethanol concentration allows for impurities to precipitate out of solution while bioactive compounds remain. The result is a potent, bioactive concentrate that can be used to make tablets or granules in place of the less convenient, traditional decoction.

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Ethanol Use in Hand Sanitizers

By Jillian Jastrzembski

March 12, 2024

Ethanol is an important ingredient in the manufacture of hand sanitizers, thanks to the ability of ethanol to act as a disinfectant. Ethanol concentration is perhaps the most critical parameter for ethanol-based hand sanitizers, with 60-95% ethanol being the most effective disinfectant. Higher concentrations of ethanol are actually less effective, since water is required for protein denaturation and to slow down evaporation. Ethanol-based hand sanitizers are more effective than alcohol-free sanitizers, and even offer many advantages over hand washing with regular detergents.

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How Food Grade Ethanol improves the safety and shelf-life of food

By Jillian Jastrzembski

February 27, 2024
How Food Grade Ethanol improves the safety and shelf-life of food

Ethanol emitters are a type of active packaging designed to release ethanol during storage, in order to extend the shelf-life and quality of foods. Ethanol is an excellent choice for a preservative because it has a long history of use, proven efficacy, and safety. Food grade ethanol is essential for these applications to ensure consumer-safety.

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Sugar-cane vs corn ethanol

By Jillian Jastrzembski

February 6, 2024
Sugar-cane vs corn ethanol

Technically, ethanol can only be one thing: a 2-carbon alcohol with the formula CH3CH2OH. And yet, not all ethanol is created equal. Ethanol can be sourced, produced, and purified in multiple different ways. As it turns out, what goes on behind the scenes really does matter.

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Ethosomes: The Future of Cosmeceutical Formulations

By Jillian Jastrzembski

January 9, 2024
Ethosomes: The Future of Cosmeceutical Formulations

Ethosomes are an innovative way to improve the delivery of skincare ingredients across the powerful skin barrier. Ethosomes are comprised of phospholipids and high concentrations of ethanol. The presence of ethanol gives the ethosome unique properties that allow it to penetrate deeper into the dermal layers. The result is improved availability and efficacy of active compounds, which can help treat and prevent conditions like hair loss, acne, and hyperpigmentation.

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Ethanol-based herbal tinctures: How new technology preserves an ancient medicine

By Jillian Jastrzembski

November 7, 2023
Ethanol-based herbal tinctures

Herbal tinctures are a still widely used for medicinal purposes around the world. Ethanol is often the best solvent for extraction of bioactive phytochemicals, thanks to improved extraction efficiency, preservation capabilities, and the purported medicinal effects of the ethanol itself. Although long-held traditions have dictated the best preparation method for various medicinal plants, modern technology has enabled us to identify the bioactive compounds that are the driving force behind the therapeutic benefits of some plants. And since medicine is only as good as the quality of its ingredients, it is imperative that herbal tinctures are made from the highest quality, food grade and organic ethanol.

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Model Wine: The use of ethanol in enology

By Jillian Jastrzembski

September 5, 2023
Model Wine

Because ethanol is the second-most abundant chemical in wine, second only to water, it is an essential tool for enology research experiments. Real wine is incredibly complicated and can be difficult to study. Scientists often perform experiments in model wine instead. Model wine is a simplified chemical solution, consisting of just the major components, like water, ethanol, and a few other organic compounds like tartaric acid and sugars. For example, model wine is used to perform sensory and kinetic studies in wine. The same goes for other alcoholic beverages. Ethanol can also be used to make model whisky, model tequila, and so on.

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Using Ethanol for synthesis of nano-materials and porous materials

By Adrian Dingle

July 3, 2023
Nano Technologies

Ethanol is used as a co-solvent alongside other solvents such as larger alcohols like propanol, butanol, and even longer chain compounds such as dodecanol. By varying the composition of the solvent mixture, both the size of the nanoparticles produced, and the speed of the reaction can be controlled. Ethanol has at least one other important role in the production of MSNs. It is commonly used as a washing agent to remove unwanted molecules from the nanoparticles at the end of the production process.

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The Use of Ethanol in the Perfume Industry

By Adrian Dingle

May 22, 2023
Perfume

Every aspect of our experience with perfumes is grounded in chemistry. At the center of that experience is a very well-known substance, regular old ethanol. Most of the alcohol used in the commercial production of perfumes is denatured alcohol, i.e., that which has been made unfit for human consumption.

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The Types of Ethanol

By Adrian Dingle

May 5, 2023
Ethanol

In modern times the denaturing of ethanol falls broadly into two categories: Specially Denatured Alcohol (SDA) and Complete Denatured Alcohol (CDA), and is regulated by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB), a subset (bureau) of the US Department of the Treasury. SDA refers to several different combinations of chemicals that are added to ethanol in various quantities depending on the intended final use.

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