Novel Injectable Hydrogel Formulations and Gas Chromatography Analysis of the Residual Crosslinker in Formulations Intended for Pharmaceutical and Cosmetic Applications

Abstract

Novel hyaluronic acid (HA) crosslinked with pentaerythritol tetra-acrylate (PT) injectable hydrogels was invented. These injectable hydrogel/dermal filler formulations were synthesised using HA and the acrylate PT as a crosslinker under basic pH conditions using thermal crosslinking methods (oven heating), which provides a simple, safe, and eco-friendly method for crosslinking in 4 h under 45 °C. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analyses were conducted to represent the difference between the formulations in terms of peak formation and pore size, respectively. The crosslinking was partial as is considered to be typical for dermal injectable fillers. The rheological properties of these formulations showed that these novel dermal injectables are highly promising, and the newly developed fillers could be used with better results for dermal anti-wrinkle corrections, shaping, and volumising reasons. Furthermore, crosslinker (PT) residual analysis was carried out to state the formulations that are valid and acceptable for intradermal usage. The results from the GC method validation revealed it was a suitable method for this study. The GC analysis of all five injectable hydrogel/filler formulations demonstrated the formulations HA-PT 1, 2, 3 and 4 were formulated using (0.05–0.1)% w/w PT containing residual PT monomers within the safe limits that were determined to be below (0.008% w/w). This work has shown the development of a novel injectable hydrogel/filler formulation for pharmaceutical and cosmetic applications can be prepared in a more sustainable and simple way using pentaerythritol tetra-acrylate as a crosslinker agent, which holds great promise for the industry’s future advancement.