Cosmetics, Food, Pharma | Determining the half-life of essential oils using viscosity
Looking for reliable and precise viscosity measurements requiring only small amounts of sample? Lovis microviscometer is the perfect solution. Dynamic and kinematic viscosity as well as polymer parameters like intrinsic viscosity are gained from sample volumes as low as 100 μL.
Essential oils are volatile and liquid aroma compounds from natural sources and can be obtained by extraction processes. They can be used as natural flavors in food and fragrances in perfumes, personal care products or in medicines. Due to their manifold properties and high number of possible applications, the study of essential oils is of great interest. Table 1 provides an overview of the possible uses of essential oils in various industries.
| Industry | Application |
| Cosmetic industry | Ingredients of fragrances, decorative cosmetics, fine fragrances, and flavoring |
| Food industry | Aroma and flavors |
| Pharmaceutical industry | Active components of medicines and antibacterials/antimicrobials, and in aromatherapy |
Essential oils are known to be susceptible to conversion and degradation reactions which cause a loss of quality and pharmacological properties. Oxidation of essential oils affects viscosity, refractive index, and density among other parameters. Therefore, the viscosity is an important indicator for the quality of essential oils.
Furthermore, the viscosity influences the final drop size and how easy it is to dose the oil. The viscosity of an essential oil determines its volatility and is thus instrumental in determining the “half-life". The half-life is the time it takes for 50 % of the amount of oil to remain aromatically active. The more viscous and the less volatile the nature of the oil, the longer the half-life. Consequently, less viscous oils are often blended with higher-viscosity oils to increase their half-life.
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