Lecithin in oil‐in‐water emulsions

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Abstract
Summary: A study was made to investigate the use of purified phosphatide in I.V. emulsions. Lecithin isolated from egg yolk and purified by alumina and silica chromatography was analyzed by chromatographic strip techniques as a one‐component material. Highly purified lecithin was found to be an inefficient emulsifier. Moreover emulsions containing highly purified lecithin were heat‐sensitive. An emulsion physical stability test was developed to evaluate emulsifier formulations containing purified phosphatides for use with small amounts of emulsions (approximately 50 g.). Using this procedure, a considerable number of substances were tested as additives to enhance the purified lecithin's emulsifying power. None were found to be as effective as natural soybean phosphatide, which was used as a control. From these observations it is indicated that pure phosphatides are inefficient emulsifiers and that those phosphatide preparations possessing good emulsifying characteristics are presumably mixtures or complexes of the phosphatides with other substances.