Skip to main content

Abstract

Transcutol® or diethylene glycol monoethyl ether is a liquid which has a long history of use in cosmetic and over-the-counter topically applied products. Transcutol® has been applied in several commercial preparations and is used in many studies as the main ingredient of formulations. It has been used in formulations as a co-surfactant and a penetration enhancer. It is frequently utilized in topical formulations (dermal drug delivery systems), transdermal delivery systems, and ocular and also intranasal delivery systems. It is also used as an ingredient in nanoemulsions, sunless tanning products, and in a wide range of hair-coloring products which are rinse-off products. This solvent will be a key component of many cosmetic products as well as dermatics in foreseeable future. In this chapter, some of the most important physicochemical properties of Transcutol® will be reviewed, as well as its application, pharmacology, and biomedical effects and toxicity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 119.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 159.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Amrish C, Kumar SP (2009) Transdermaldelivery of ketorolac. Yakugaku Zasshi 129(3):373–379

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Artusi M, Nicoli S, Colombo P, Bettini R, Sacchi A, Santi P (2004) Effect of chemical enhancers and iontophoresis on thiocolchicoside permeation across rabbit and human skin in vitro. J Pharm Sci 93:2431–2438

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baboota S, Shakeel F, Ahuja A, Ali J (2007) Design, development and evaluation of novel nanoemulsion formulations for transdermal potential of celecoxib. Acta Pharm 57:315–332

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barakat N, Fouad E, Elmedany A (2011) Formulation design of indomethacin-loaded nanoemulsion for transdermal delivery. Pharm Anal Acta S2:1–8

    Google Scholar 

  • Baroli B, Lopez-Quintela MA, Delgado-Charro MB, Fadda AM, Blanco- Mendez J (2000) Microemulsions for topical delivery of 8-methoxsalen. J Control Release 69:209–218

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Barry BW (1983) Dermatological formulation: percutaneous absorption. Marcel Dekker, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Barry BW (1987) Mode of action of penetration enhancers in human skin. J Control Release 6:85–97

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bialik W, Walters KA, Brain KR, Hadgraft J (1993) Some factors affecting the in vitro penetration of ibuprofen through human skin. Int J Pharm 92:219–223

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Budden R, Kühl G, Bahlsen J (1979) Experiments on the toxic, sedative and muscle relaxant potency of various drug solvents in mice. Pharmacol Ther 5:467–474

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cázares-Delgadillo J, Naik A, Kalia YN, Quintanar-Guerrero D, Ganem-Quintanar A (2005) Skin permeation enhancement by sucrose esters: a pH-dependent phenomenon. Int J Pharm 297:204–212

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Censi R, Martena V, Hoti E, Malaj L, Di Martino P (2011) Permeation and skin retention of quercetin from microemulsions containing Transcutol® P. Drug Dev Ind Pharm 38(9):1128–1133

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chessa M, Caddeo C, Valenti D, Manconi M, Sinico C, Fadda AM (2011) Effect of penetration enhancer containing vesicles on the percutaneous delivery of quercetin through new born pig skin. Pharmaceutics 3:497–509

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Delongeas JL, Conchard GVD, Beamonte A, Bertheux H, Spire C, Maisonneuve C et al (2010) Assessment of Labrasol_/Labrafil_/Transcutol_ (4/4/2, v/v/v) as a non-clinical vehicle for poorly water-soluble compounds after 4-week oral toxicity study in Wistar rats. Regul Toxicol Pharmacol 57:284–290

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Elshafeey AH, Hamza YE, Amin SY, Akhlaghi F, Zia H (2011) Enhanced bioavailability of fenoterol transdermal systems in rabbits. J Bioequiv Availab 3(5):97–100

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Escobar-Chávez JJ, Quintanar-Guerrero D, Ganem-Quintanar A (2005) In vivo skin permeation of sodium naproxen formulated in pluronic F-127 gels: effect of Azone and Transcutol. Drug Dev Ind Pharm 31(4–5):447–454

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Escribano E, Calpena AC, Queralt J, Obach R, Doménech J (2003) Assessment of diclofenac permeation with different formulations: anti-inflammatory study of a selected formula. Eur J Pharm Sci 19(4):203–210

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fini A, Bergamante V, Ceschel GC, Ronchi C, De Moraes CAF (2008) Control of transdermal permeation of hydrocortisone acetate from hydrophilic and lipophilic formulations. AAPS Pharm Sci Tech 9(3):762–768

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gannu R, Vishnu YV, Kishan V, Rao YM (2008) In vitro permeation of carvedilol through porcine skin: effect of vehicles and penetration enhancers. PDA J Pharm Sci Technol 62(4):256–263

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goyali U, Arora R, Aggarwal G (2012) Formulation design and evaluation of a self-microemulsifying drug delivery system of lovastatin. Acta Pharm 62:357–370

    Google Scholar 

  • Harrison JE, Watkinson AC, Green DM, Hadgraft J, Brain K (1996) The relative effect of Azone and Transcutol on permeant diffusivity and solubility in human stratum corneum. Pharm Res 13(4):542–546

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hathout RM, Woodman TJ, Mansour S, Mortada ND, Geneidi AS, Guy RH (2010) Microemulsion formulations for the transdermal delivery of testosterone. Eur J Pharm Sci 40(3):188–196

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Jain R, Patravale VB (2009) Development and evaluation of nitrendipine nanoemulsion for intranasal delivery. J Biomed Nanotechnol 5(1):62–68

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Javadzadeh Y, Hamishehkar H (2011) Enhancing percutaneous delivery of methotrexate using different types of surfactants. Colloids Surf B Biointerfaces 82:422–426

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Javadzadeh Y, Shokri J, Hallaj-Nezhadi S, Hamishehkar H, Nokhodchi A (2010) Enhancement of percutaneous absorption of Finasteride by cosolvents, cosurfactant and surfactants. Pharm Dev Technol 15(6):619–625

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Javadzadeh Y, Siahi MR, Asnaashari S, Nokhodchi A (2007) Liquisolid technique as a tool for enhancement of poorly water-soluble drugs and evaluation of their physicochemical properties. Acta Pharm 57:99–109

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li C, Liu C, Liu J, Fang L (2011) Correlation between rheological properties, in vitro release, and percutaneous permeation of tetrahydropalmatine. AAPS PharmSciTech 12(3):1002–1009

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Liu Z, Li J, Nie S, Guo H, Pan W (2006) Effects of Transcutol P on the corneal permeability of drugs and evaluation of its ocular irritation of rabbit eyes. J Pharm Pharmacol 58(1):45–50

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Manconi M, Caddeo C, Sinico C, Valenti D, Mostallino MC, Biggio G, Fadda AM (2011a) Ex vivo skin delivery of diclofenac by transcutol containing liposomes and suggested mechanism of vesicle–skin interaction. Eur J Pharm Biopharm 78:27–35

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Manconi M, Sinico C, Caddeo C, Vila AO, Valenti D, Fadda AM (2011b) Penetration enhancer containing vesicles as carriers for dermal delivery of tretinoin. Int J Pharm 412:37–46

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mandal S, Mandal SS (2011) Microemulsion drug delivery system: a platform for improving dissolution rate of poorly water soluble drug. Int J Pharm Sci Nanotech 3(4):1214–1219

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Mura P, Faucci MT, Bramanti G, Corti P (2000) Evaluation of transcutol as a clonazepam transdermal permeation enhancer from hydrophilic gel formulations. Eur J Pharm Sci 9(4):365–372

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mura S, Manconi M, Sinico C, Valenti D, Fadda AM (2009) Penetration enhancer-containing vesicles (PEVs) as carriers for cutaneous delivery of minoxidil. Int J Pharm 380:72–79

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Mura S, Manconi M, Valenti D, Sinico C, Vila AO, Fadda AM (2011) Transcutol containing vesicles for topical delivery of minoxidil. J Drug Target 19(3):189–196

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Osborne DW (2011) Diethylene glycol monoethyl ether: an emerging solvent in topical dermatology products. J Cosmet Dermatol 10:324–329

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Ritschel WA, Hussain AS (1988) Influence of selected solvents on penetration of griseofulvin in rat skin, in vitro. Pharm Ind 50:483–486

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Senyiğit T, Padula C, Ozer O, Santi P (2009) Different approaches for improving skin accumulation of topical corticosteroids. Int J Pharm 380(1–2):155–160

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shishu, Rajan S, Kamalpreet (2009) Development of novel microemulsion-based topical formulations of acyclovir for the treatment of cutaneous herpetic infections. AAPS PharmSciTech 10(2):559–562

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Shokri J, Azarmi S, Fasihi Z, Hallaj-Nezhadi S, Nokhodchi A, Javadzadeh Y (2012) Effects of various penetration enhancers on percutaneous absorption of piroxicam from emulgels. Res Pharm Sci 7(4):225–234

    PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sinha VR, Kaur MP (2000) Permeation enhancers for transdermal drug delivery. Drug DevInd Pharm 26(11):1131–1140

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Singh PB, Choudhury PK (2007) Penetration enhancers for transdermal drug delivery of systemic agents. J Pharm Res 6:44–50

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Solanki SS, Sarkar B, Dhanwani RK (2012) Microemulsion drug delivery system: for bioavailability enhancement of ampelopsin. ISRN Pharm 2012:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Touitou E, Levi-Schaffer F, Dayan N, Alhaique F, Riccieri F (1994) Modulation of caffeine skin delivery by carrier design: liposomes versus permeation enhancers. Int J Pharm 103:131–136

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Watkinson AC, Hadgraft J, Bye A (1991) Aspects of the transdermal delivery of prostaglandins. Int J Pharm 74:229–236

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yousef Javadzadeh .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Javadzadeh, Y., Adibkia, K., Hamishekar, H. (2015). Transcutol® (Diethylene Glycol Monoethyl Ether): A Potential Penetration Enhancer. In: Dragicevic, N., Maibach, H. (eds) Percutaneous Penetration Enhancers Chemical Methods in Penetration Enhancement. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47039-8_12

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-47039-8_12

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-47038-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-47039-8

  • eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics