TESTS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF TYPES OF EMULSION
Submitted by
Submitted to Aniket sahu
B.pharm. 1st sem.
Mrs. Vandana Soni Roll no.Y19150009
Mr. Ankit Jain
Department of pharmaceutical Sciences
Dr. Harisingh gour University Sagar (m. P.)
(A Central University)
Subject : Pharmaceutics
EMULSION
• Emulsions are colloidal dispersions in which a liquid is dispersed in a
continuous liquid phase of different composition.
• It has two phages:
1. Dispersed phage
2. Countinous phage
• In most emulsions, one of the liquids is aqueous while the other is
hydrocarbon and referred to as oil.
TYPES OF EMULSIONS
• The emulsions are two types:
1. Simple
(a) O/W (oil-in-water) : Oil droplets dispersed in water,eg. milk,butter &
mayonnaise etc.
(b) W/O (water-in-oil) : Water droplets dispersed in oil.
2. Complex :
(a) W/O/W (water-in-oil-in water) : Water droplets dispersed in oil droplets that are
in turn dispersed in water.
(b) O/W/O (oil-in-water-in-oil) : Oil droplets dispersed in aqueous droplets that are
in turn dispersed in a continuous oil phase.
TESTS FOR IDENTIFICATION OF TYPES OF
EMULSIONS
• Various tests to identify types of
emulsion are:
1. Dilution Test 5. Cobalt Chloride Test
2. Conductivity Test 6. Filter Paper test
3. Dye Test 7. Texture
4. Fluorescence Test 8. Microscopy
1. DILUTION TEST :
• An emulsion mixes with a liquid that is miscible with the continuous
phase.
• An o/w emulsion can diluted with water and a w/o emulsion can diluted
with oil.
• Addition of water to w/o emulsion and oil to o/w emulsion would crack
the emulsion and separate the phages.
2. CONDUCTIVITY TEST:
• O/W emulsions usually have a very high specific conductance.
• W/O emulsions have a very low specific conductance.
• In this test a pair of electrodes connected to a lamp and an electric source are
dipped into an emulsions.
• If the emulsion is o/w type,water conducts the current and lamp gets lighted.
• The lamp does not glow when the emulsion is w/o, oil does not conduct the
current.
3. DYE TEST:
• Emulsions are most readily and consistently coloured by dyes soluble in the
continuous phase, e.g. methylene blue for water or fuschin for oil.
• A water soluble dye is colour uniformly to an o/w emulsion and non-uniformly to
w/o and vice-versa.
4. FLUORESCENCE TEST:
• When a w/o emulsion is exposed to fluorescent(UV) light under a
microscope, the entire field fluoresces.
• Oil gives fluorescence under UV light, while water doesn’t.
5. COBALT CHLORIDE TEST :
• Filter paper that has been saturated with CoCl2 and then dried changes from blue
to pink in the presence of O/W emulsion.
• Water react with Cobalt Chloride and form a complex [Co(H2O)6]2+ which gives
pink color.
6. FILTER PAPER TEST:
• O/W emulsion will spread out rapidly when dropped onto filter Paper.
• While a W/O emulsion will spread slowly due to high viscosity of
continuous phage (oil).
7. TEXTURE
• O/W emulsions usually feel ‘watery or creamy’.
• W/O emulsions feel ‘oily or greasy’.
• This distinction becomes less evident as the emulsion viscosity increases,
so that a very viscous O/W emulsion may feel oily.
8. MICROSCOPY
• It is used for identification of complex (double continuous phage contains)
emulsions.
REFERENCES:
1. Schramm L.. L. “Emulsions, Foams, Suspensions, and Aerosols”. Published by
Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Boschstr. Germany. 2nd Edition. 2014. Pg. 6-
7, 57.
2. Remington J. P. . “The Science and Practice of Pharmacy”. Published by Lippincott
Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore. 21st Edition, edited by Troy D. B. 2006. Pg. 326.
3. Jain N. K., Sharma S. N. “A Textbook of Professional Pharmacy”. Published by
Vallabh Prakashan, Delhi. 6th Edition 2016, Reprint 2018. Pg. 271-73
