Kolliphor EL, formerly known as Cremophor EL, is the registered trademark of

BASF BASF SE () is a German multinational chemical company and the largest chemical producer in the world. Its headquarters is located in Ludwigshafen, Germany. The BASF Group comprises subsidiaries and joint ventures in more than 80 countries ...

Corp. for its version of polyethoxylated castor oil. It is prepared by reacting 35 moles of

ethylene oxide Ethylene oxide is an organic compound with the formula . It is a cyclic ether and the simplest epoxide: a three-membered ring consisting of one oxygen atom and two carbon atoms. Ethylene oxide is a colorless and flammable gas with a faintly sw ...

with each mole of

castor oil Castor oil is a vegetable oil pressed from castor beans. It is a colourless or pale yellow liquid with a distinct taste and odor. Its boiling point is and its density is 0.961 g/cm3. It includes a mixture of triglycerides in which about ...

. The resulting product is a mixture (

CAS number A CAS Registry Number (also referred to as CAS RN or informally CAS Number) is a unique identification number assigned by the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS), US to every chemical substance described in the open scientific literature. It inclu ...

61791-12-6): the major component is the material in which the hydroxyl groups of the castor oil

triglyceride A triglyceride (TG, triacylglycerol, TAG, or triacylglyceride) is an ester derived from glycerol and three fatty acids (from ''wikt:tri-#Prefix, tri-'' and ''glyceride''). Triglycerides are the main constituents of body fat in humans and other ...

have ethoxylated with ethylene oxide to form

polyethylene glycol Polyethylene glycol (PEG; ) is a polyether compound derived from petroleum with many applications, from industrial manufacturing to medicine. PEG is also known as polyethylene oxide (PEO) or polyoxyethylene (POE), depending on its molecular we ...

ethers In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again be ...

. Minor components are the polyethyelene glycol

esters In chemistry, an ester is a compound derived from an oxoacid (organic or inorganic) in which at least one hydroxyl group () is replaced by an alkoxy group (), as in the substitution reaction of a carboxylic acid and an alcohol. Glycerides ar ...

ricinoleic acid Ricinoleic acid, formally called 12-hydroxy-9-''cis''-octadecenoic acid is a fatty acid. It is an unsaturated omega-9 fatty acid and a hydroxy acid. It is a major component of the seed oil obtained from mature castor plant (''Ricinus communis' ...

, polyethyelene glycols and polyethyelene glycol ethers of

glycerol Glycerol (), also called glycerine in British English and glycerin in American English, is a simple triol compound. It is a colorless, odorless, viscous liquid that is sweet-tasting and non-toxic. The glycerol backbone is found in lipids known ...

. Kolliphor EL is a synthetic,

nonionic An ion () is an atom or molecule with a net electrical charge. The charge of an electron is considered to be negative by convention and this charge is equal and opposite to the charge of a proton, which is considered to be positive by convent ...

surfactant used to stabilize emulsions of nonpolar materials in

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

. Kolliphor EL is an

excipient An excipient is a substance formulated alongside the active ingredient of a medication, included for the purpose of long-term stabilization, bulking up solid formulations that contain potent active ingredients in small amounts (thus often referred ...

or additive in drugs. Therapeutically, modern drugs are rarely given in a pure chemical state, so most active ingredients are combined with excipients or additives such as Kolliphor EL.

Uses

Miconazole Miconazole, sold under the brand name Monistat among others, is an antifungal medication used to treat ring worm, pityriasis versicolor, and yeast infections of the skin or vagina. It is used for ring worm of the body, groin (jock itch), and ...

, anti-fungal *

Docetaxel Docetaxel (DTX or DXL), sold under the brand name Taxotere among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes breast cancer, head and neck cancer, stomach cancer, prostate cancer and non-small-cell ...

, anti-cancer * Aci-Jel (acetic acid / oxyquinoline / ricinoleic acid - vaginal) *

Sandimmune Ciclosporin, also spelled cyclosporine and cyclosporin, is a calcineurin inhibitor, used as an immunosuppressant medication. It is a natural product. It is taken orally or intravenously for rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease ...

(cyclosporine injection, USP) *

Nelfinavir mesylate Nelfinavir, sold under the brand name Viracept, is an antiretroviral medication used in the treatment of HIV/AIDS. Nelfinavir belongs to the class of drugs known as protease inhibitors (PIs) and like other PIs is almost always used in combination ...

HIV The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...

protease inhibitor * Propofol, intravenous anaesthetic agent, originally presented in Kolliphor EL for trials; now presented in a lipid emulsion *

Diazepam Diazepam, first marketed as Valium, is a medicine of the benzodiazepine family that acts as an anxiolytic. It is commonly used to treat a range of conditions, including anxiety, seizures, alcohol withdrawal syndrome, muscle spasms, insomnia, ...

injection; superseded by lipid emulsion alternative (Diazemuls) *

Vitamin K Vitamin K refers to structurally similar, fat-soluble vitamers found in foods and marketed as dietary supplements. The human body requires vitamin K for post-synthesis modification of certain proteins that are required for blood coagulation ...

injection *

Ixabepilone Ixabepilone ( INN; also known as azaepothilone B, codenamed BMS-247550) is a pharmaceutical drug developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb as a chemotherapeutic medication for cancer. History Ixabepilone is a semi-synthetic analog of epothilone B, a na ...

, anti-cancer

Side effects

Allergic reactions to

Taxol Paclitaxel (PTX), sold under the brand name Taxol among others, is a chemotherapy medication used to treat a number of types of cancer. This includes ovarian cancer, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, lung cancer, Kaposi's sarcoma, cervical ca ...

are most often allergic reactions to Kolliphor EL; symptoms include tightness in the chest, shortness of breath, and similar reactions consistent with severe anaphylactic reactions. Although many anti-allergens including corticosteroids and Benadryl may be administered before chemotherapy, they are not always sufficient to prevent the severe reaction to Kolliphor EL. Note that these should not be confused with the normal side effects of

. The allergic reaction is usually immediate and is similar to severe allergic reactions of many other substances that trigger allergic reactions. BASF offers a purified, injectable version of Kolliphor EL, known as Kolliphor ELP.

References

Excipients {{Pharma-stub

Uses

Side effects

See also

References