Pharmaceutical Technology I

Aromatic Waters

Fadia Yassir
Assistant lecturer
Aromatic Waters
 Definition
 Examples
 Uses
 Preparations
 Stability

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Aromatic waters
 Are clear, aqueous solution saturated with
volatile oils or other aromatic or volatile
substances.
 They are saturated solution usually of
volatile oils or similar substances in distilled
water.
 Aromatic waters are clear and free from
solid impurities.
 Aromatic waters are not therapeutically
potent because of the very small proportion
of active ingredient present in them.

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Examples of Aromatic waters

 Aromatic waters were prepared from a

number of volatile or aromatic substances,
including:
 orange oil,
 peppermint oil,
 rose oil,
 anise oil,
 spearmint oil,
 wintergreen oil,
 camphor and chloroform.

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 Aromatic waters can be categorized in two types as
 1. Simple aromatic waters: They contain purified
water as a solvent but do not contain alcohol and are
mainly used as vehicles e.g. Chloroform water.

 2. Concentrated aromatic waters: They contain

alcohol as solvent for the volatile constituents.
Examples of concentrated aromatic waters are
Camphor Water BP, Concentrated Peppermint Water
BP, Concentrated Caraway Water, Concentrated
Cinnamon Water, Concentrated Dill Water,
Concentrated Anise Water etc.

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 Aromatic waters uses:
1. They are in general used as flavored and
perfumed vehicles. Aromatic water provide a
pleasantly flavored medium for administration of
substance with undesirable taste to mask this
taste. The taste and odor of aromatic waters are
of the volatile substances from which they are
prepared.

2. Industrially may be used as liquid phase in the

preparation of emulsion or suspension.

3. Aromatic waters prepared from essential oils

e.g. peppermint water, have been used as
carminative and as vehicle.
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 Several aromatic waters are not used as
vehicles for oral medication. These include: Rose
water, Hamamelis water and Camphor water.

 - Rose water used as perfume

 - Hamamelis water or witch Hazel, is employed
commonly as a rub and also is used as an
astringent and perfume in aftershave lotion and
other cosmetic products.
 - Camphor water: is frequently used in eye
drops for its refreshing properties. Other uses
of Camphor: it is frequently used as rubefacient,
reduces skin itching and Soothing eye.
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Preparations of Aromatic
Waters
 Most of the substance in the aromatic waters have very
low solubility in water. Even though the water may be
saturated, its concentration of the aromatic substance is
still rather small.
 The official methods of preparation of aromatic water
are:
 1. Distillation 2. Solution 3. Alternate solution.

 Formulas for concentrates of the aromatic principles

containing either alcohol or solubilizing agent have been
developed, or manufactured as concentrated water, and
to prepare aromatic water the concentrated are diluted
with water before use.
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1. Distillation method
 The distillation method consists
of
 1. Placing the odoriferous portion
of the plant in a suitable still with
sufficient purified water and then

 2. Distilling most of the water

carefully to avoid charring or
scorching (burning) of the
substances.

 3. The excess oil is separated

from the distillate.

 4. The aqueous phase, which may

require further clarification is the
product. 9
 In Orange flower or Rose water where the flavor
or odor are in small amount and delicate, the
distillate is returned several times to the still with
fresh portions of flowers, consequently the
waters produced are commercially known as
double distilled, triple distilled, or quadruple
distilled according to the number of re-
distillation.

 The product is labeled as X’s, for example XX,

XXX . Each X representing one distillation. So
XXXX means that four times repeated process.
 This process is called re-distillation. This is done
or carried on to get a saturated solution if it is
not obtained from the first distillation.
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 Most of aromatic waters can be prepared by
distillation. However, it is not practical or
economically feasible to use this method in
most cases, since other method is of low
cost and with simple apparatus required.
 Note: aromatic waters which are prepared
directly from fresh plant material, e.g.
stronger rose water, orange flower water,
and Hamamelis water cannot be prepared by
any method other than distillation.
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2. Solution method
 The volatile substance is agitated with purified
water for about 15 minutes.
 The mixture is then set aside for at least 12
hours, to ensure saturation, then it is filtered
through wetted filter paper.
 For most waters a large excess of volatile
substances 2 ml or 2 g per liter be agitated
with purified water to obtain the maximal rate
of solution.

 The filter paper must be wet.

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 Advantage:
 1. Easy method.
 2. Simple equipment.
 Disadvantage:
 1. In spite of repeated filtration it is
difficult to obtain a brilliantly clear
preparation owing to formation of
extremely fine particle. This can be
avoided by using boiling purified water.
 2. Time consuming method.

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Chloroform water N.F.
 It is prepared by solution method but without
filtration. It is prepared by placing excess amount of
chloroform in a bottle then add water and shake
vigorously. Some of chloroform dissolve in water
and form aromatic water and excess will settle
down on the bottom of the bottle because it is
heavier than water.

 The high volatility of chloroform creates an

equilibrium of loss and restoration of strength by
evaporation.

 When it is dispensed, the bottle should not be

shaken, and only the supernatant liquid should be
used.
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3. Alternate solution method
 In this method the volatile material is mixed
thoroughly with 15 g of purified talc or with a
sufficient quantity of purified siliceous earth or
pulped filter paper.
 This mixture is agitated with a liter of purified
water for 10 minutes, prior to filtration. The talc
or other inert material functions as both:

 1. a filter aid which facilitate the clarification of

solution and
 2. a distributing agent. It serves to accelerate the
rate of solution by adsorbing and facilitating the
breaking up of the aromatic substance into fine
particles, thus increasing the surface area exposed
to solvent action accelerating the rate of the
dissolution. 15
 This method has been developed to
overcome difficulties in the simple
solution method; clarification and time
consumed.

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 Disadvantage of alternate solution method
 The alternate method has not proved to be
entirely satisfactory, owing to the problem of
purified talc passing through the filter papers
commonly used.

 The purified talc pass through the filter paper

because purified talc is subdivided too finely.

 It is difficult to obtain purified siliceous earth free

from soluble or finely divided extraneous matter.

 Elutriation with water is used to remove soluble

material and finally divided particles. (is a process
for separating particles based on their size, shape
and density by using a stream of liquid).
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Peppermint water
 Peppermint oil is a complex mixture of
hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, aldehydes and
ketone.
 The hydrocarbon fraction of many essential oils is
made up of terpenes.
 These components are the least water-soluble
and, Consequently, constitute most of the
insoluble matter removed in the clarification
process.
 The other substances, are the terpeneless oils
“aroma carriers” are stronger in aroma, more
soluble and more stable than the natural essential
oil (terpenes oil), but are of higher expense.

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Dilution
 Concentrated aromatic waters are
prepared to avoid the difficulties involved
in the clarification of aromatic water,
 which are designed to be diluted with an
appropriate volume of purified water
when needed.
 Dilute rose water prepared from strong
rose water with an equal volume of
water.
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Preparation of concentrated
aromatic water
 -An alcoholic solution (50-55% alcohol) of
the essential oil is mixed with water and
talc, the mixture is agitated; after several
hours it is filtered.
 The diluted aromatic water is prepared by
diluting 2 ml of the concentrated
aromatic solution to 100 ml with water.
The resultant contain less than 1.5%
alcohol.

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 Advantage: easy method

 Disadvantage: aqueous preparation that

contain small amounts of alcohol are
prone to alterations in flavor and aroma,
as a consequence of oxidative degradation
of the alcohol.

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 -The other method to prepare
concentrates is by using nonionic surface-
active agent e.g., polysorbate 80 USP
(Tween 80) due to solubilization by
micelles formation.
 Peppermint oil 7.5 ml
 Tween 20 43 ml
 Purified water q.s 100 ml

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 Disadvantages:
 Possess objectionable odor.
 The pH lower than the official one.
 Foam excessively on agitation.
 Develop disagreeable taste more readily.
 Surface active agent will dissolve the
terpenes also.

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Stability of aromatic waters
 Aromatic waters are not very stable
preparation.
 Improper storage cause instability, many
waters support the growth of mold. No
preservatives are added to aromatic
waters.
 Excessive exposure to light and to
changes in temperature cause aromatic
waters to loss some of their desirable
characteristics,
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 The solutes are volatile materials, loss of
aroma occurs on prolonged exposure to
atmosphere, particularly at elevated
temperatures.
 Aromatic waters are saturated solutions,
lowering the temperature causes
separation of the aromatic component,
thus producing cloudiness.

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 Salting out of volatile substances upon
addition of water solution of strong
electrolyte and may collect on the top of
the liquid, imparting a burning taste to the
first dose.
 Loss in flavor may be observed if aromatic
waters are used in the external phase of
the dispersions, owing to adsorption of
aromatic substances by suspended matter.

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 Many of the aroma-bearing solutes, as
well as the terpenes, are oxidizable
compounds. Oxidative degradation,
involving dissolved atmospheric oxygen, is
likely.
 This autoxidation can be catalyzed by light
and trace quantities of metal ions such as
iron (III) and copper (II).

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 For example chloroform water is stored
in light-resistant bottles since light
catalyze the oxidation of chloroform to
the poisonous gas, phosgene.
 Other example, bitter almond water,
deposits crystals of benzoic acid which
result from the autoxidation of
benzaldehyde.

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 Aromatic waters which are prepared
aseptically with recently boiled purified
water and were filtered through bacterial
retentive filters in to sterilized resistant
glass containers, remain stable for a year.

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 THANK YOU

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