Compounding with Silicones

Since the 1940s, methylchlorosilanes have been used to treat glassware to prevent blood from clotting. The use of silicones in pharmaceutical and medical applications has grown to where today they are used in many life-saving devices (pacemakers, hydrocephalic shunts) and pharmaceutical applications from tubing, to excipients in topical formulations, to adhesives to affix transdermal drug delivery systems, and are also being used in products as active pharmaceutical ingredients, such as antiflatulents. About 60% of today's skin-care products now contain some type of silicone where they are considered safe and are known to provide a pleasant "silky-touch," non-greasy, and non-staining feel. Silicones exhibit many useful characteristics, and the safety of these agents supports their numerous applications; their biocompatibility is partially due to their low-chemical reactivity displayed by silicones, low-surface energy, and their hydrophobicity. Silicones are used both as active ingredients and as excipients. In addition is their use for "siliconization," or surface treatment, of many parenteral packaging components. Dimethicone and silicone oil are used as lubricants on stoppers to aid machineability, in syringes to aid piston movement, or on syringe needles to reduce pain upon injection. Silicones are also useful in pharmaceutical compounding as is discussed in this artiele included with this article are in developing formulations with silicones.