Economical Method for Producing Nascent Iodine Products with Aprotic Solvents (NMP, DMSO) Possessing Highly Effective Antimicrobial Properties

摘要

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of polar and aprotic solvents when used as solvents separately on the antimicrobial activity of nascent iodine products. In the literature, as much as we are aware of, this subject has not been studied in detail. The results of this investigation showed that there is critical water content for each solvent used for the preparation of suitable, homogenous and stable antimicrobial nascent iodine products. The critical water content was 25% for polyethylene glycol 400 (PEG 400) and propylene glycol, 50% for dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO), and 75% for n-methyl 2-pyrrolidone (NMP). During the preparation of these products, if the water content of the product was unequal to these critical water contents, it was found that iodine present in the product separates out and precipitates. Among these solvents, NMP was found to be the most suitable solvent. It helps to produce a product possessing the highest antimicrobial activities. It is the most economical solvent, and it possesses improved penetration enhancement properties to skin. It was also observed that the product prepared with NMP can be dilutable infinitely. Even though it was diluted four times with water and its iodine content dropped to 0.3% iodine, the sample showed much higher antimicrobial activities than the well-known commercial povidone iodine. During this investigation, it was surprising to observe that even when the well-known povidone iodine product was diluted with an equal amount of water (when its iodine content was reduced to 0.6%), it completely lost its antimicrobial activity.