As a hexahydric alcohol, Sorbitol is a member of the polyhydric alcohol family, the lowest of which are ethylene glycol and glycerol. The close chemical relationship between Sorbitol and the lower alcohols (like glycol and glycerol) is responsible for the similarity in their general physical properties and applications in industrial technology.
In general, hexitols and their derivatives particularly Sorbitol, are used in diverse industries viz. pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, toothpastes, cigarettes, foods, textiles, adhesives, confectionery, printing ink, etc. One of the major uses of Sorbitol is as a humectant and conditioning agent. Many products under day-to-day atmospheric changes require the addition of a humectant to assist them to retain their freshness, softness and flexibility and to maintain ideal manufacturing conditions.
To summarise, the principal advantages which Sorbitol exhibits over other polyols are
■ Sorbitol GIVES UP water very slowly to dry atmosphere
Sorbitol TAKES UP water very slowly from a humid atmosphere
In candy manufacture, Sorbitol is used together with sugar to increase shelf life. The function of Sorbitol is to retard the solidification of sugar often associated with staleness in candy. It also helps to improve softness, taste and texture. In butter creams additional benefit is enhanced flavour. Sorbitol may be used in diabetic chocolates. Sorbitol is used as humectant and softener in shredded coconut, its decided advantage over invert sugar being that the darkening of the product does not occur. Sorbitol 70% added to peanut butter has been shown to reduce dryness and crumbliness and improve spreadability.
Sorbitol finds use as a bodying agent in pharmaceutical syrups and elixirs. The use of Sorbitol in cough syrups reduces the tendency of the bottle caps to stick due to the crystallisation of the sugar present. Sorbitol is a good humectants and plasticiser and these properties make it useful in emulsion ointments, non-fat soluble ointments and gelatine capsules. Ointments, creams and pastes will show satisfactory spreading capacity with sorbitol as adjuvant.
Aqueous Sorbitol Solutions are not subjected to fermentative decomposition, and that is why Sorbitol finds increasing use in the preparation of dental formulations for buckle cavity.
Sorbitol effectively replaces glycerine and sugar in toothpastes imparting the required degree of plasticity and sweetness, humectant and plasticising properties of Sorbitol.
Sorbitol replaces glycerine as humectant and conditioning agent and helps to reduce the greasiness as well as the particle size of the disperse.
Sorbitol retards the loss of water by evaporation from oil in water emulsion and is more effective than glycerine of the same concentration when this is less then 10%.
Sorbitol imparts to frozen desserts, body and texture, as well as some sweetness. Sorbitol is used