The question is in relation to herbal medicines having pH of 2.5 to 6. What is the best method to find preservative effectiveness?
2007-03-13 03:04:34 · 1 answers · asked by snoogs73 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Many preservatives are rated specifically for their effectiveness at certain pH values. For example, sodium benzoate can only be used to preserve items with a pH of 4.5 or below. For a given effectiveness of sodium benzoate at a pH of 4.0, it requires only half the concentration to produce the same effectiveness at a pH of 3.0. Potassium sorbate is effective at pH values up to 6.5, so it could be used with your herbal medicines. However, it's important to make sure that the chosen preservative will not have an adverse chemical reaction with the active ingredients in the medication.
To actually determine the effectiveness of a preservative, it would probably be necessary to measure the growth of mold and bacteria on the protected object.
2007-03-20 15:41:14 · answer #1 · answered by DavidK93 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋