Vapour and liquid diffusion of model penetrants through human skin; correlation with thermodynamic activity

This work investigates vapour and liquid permeation through human skin of model penetrants benzyl alcohol, benzaldehyde, aniline, anisole and 2-phenylethanol applied in model vehicles butanol, butyl acetate, isophorone, isopropyl myristate, propylene carbonate, toluene, n-heptane and water. Vapour permeation was a linear function of thermodynamic activity as measured by headspace gas chromatography, except when the vehicle was n-heptane. Liquid permeation did not always follow simple thermodynamic predictions, e.g. for the penetrant, benzyl alcohol, when the vehicle damaged the skin (toluene, n-heptane) or when propylene carbonate produced low fluxes and isopropyl myristate, high values. At comparable thermodynamic activities, liquid fluxes were often ten-fold higher than vapour fluxes, and these differences were reflected by the partition coefficients and the amount of penetrant entering the stratum corneum membrane. The conclusion was that liquid fluxes were membrane controlled, whereas an interfacial effect probably contributed to low vapour permeation.