School of Applied Medical Sciences

Chemical and Pharmaceutical Engineering Department

Pharmaceutical Technology -Liquid Forms Lab (PCE 373)
Section: 1

Experiment name: Pharmaceutical Syrups

Student names: (Group #2)

Leyan Senan (20199301036)
Shadi Al-Tobul (20179301050)

Date of performing experiment: 31/10/2021

Date of report submission: 06/11/2021
Instructor name: Dr.Esra’a Albarahmieh
T.A names: Ph.Hadeel AbedAlfattah
Ph.Hadeel Almaayah
 Pharmaceutical Syrups

1. Objectives:

To determine the concentration of a flavoring syrup, by establishing a calibration curve of

different known concentrations of simple syrups that are compared based on measuring their
viscosity using a burette filled with beads at certain height.

2. Introduction:

Pharmaceutical syrups are basically viscous oral liquids, that could contain one or more API.
They are basically made of sucrose and water, in which the more sucrose there is in the solution,
the higher its viscosity. Also, other ingredients added to syrups could alter its viscosity and also
change its physical characteristics. The most important thing in any pharmaceutical product is
the prevention of any sort of contamination, thus they should be prepared in clean equipment.
Syrups contain 850gm of sucrose in 450 ml of water. However, syrups could also be prepared
from sugars other than sucrose such as non-sugar polyols which are less sweet but they reduce
any cap locking if any crystallization happens. Syrups could be preserved by storing them in low
temperatures, by the addition of preservatives or by the maintenance of a high concentration of
sucrose as a part of the formulation, in which syrups could have self preservation, because as the
concentration of sucrose increase, the sucrose will go inside any bacterial cell, which will stay
there and not be able to go out, thus preventing any reproduction of the bacterial cell. Although,
when the addition of other ingredients, it could decrease the concentration of sucrose in the
solution, thus lowering the effectiveness of self preservation.

3. Apparatus:

3.1 Chemicals:

• Sucrose
• Orange oil
• Glycerin
• Ethanol
• Distilled water
3.2 Glassware:

• Funnel
• Burette
• Pasteur Pipette
• Beaker
• Erlenmeyer Flask

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 Pharmaceutical Syrups

3.3 Equipment:

• Weighing Balance
• Water Bath
3. Procedure:

A. Prepare 100 gm syrup for each of the following 66.7%, 50%, 25% (w/v) solution.

• 66.7% (w/v): 667 gm and distilled water up to 1000 gm

• 50% (w/v): 500 gm and distilled water up to 1000 gm

• 25% (w/v): 250 gm and distilled water up to 1000 gm

• For all of the solutions heat 40 ml, 55 ml, 80 ml of water for the 66.7%, 50%, 25%
(w/v) respectively, then add sucrose to them and heat again until clear solution.
Filter when it is hot using cotton

B. Preparation of flavoring syrup:

1. Measure using a measuring cylinder 7.34 ml of 95% ethanol and dissolve 1 ml of

orange oil

2. Measure using a weighing balance 25 g of cold syrup and add mixture above

3.Add using a measuring cylinder 15 ml of glycerin and mix and transfer the solution into
a measuring cylinder and up to volume 100 ml of distilled water

4. Measure 5g of talc using a weighing balance and add to above solution solution

5. Twice filter using gravity filtration

C. Fill a burette with bead to a certain height, and run it first of 5 ml of distilled water and
record the time needed for it to flow in seconds, repeat the same for the solutionS prepared
in part A and part B

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 Pharmaceutical Syrups

5: Results, calculations and discussion

5.1: Tables

Table 1: Shows the time needed for test solutions to travel through the beads.

Concentration of Syrups (%w/v) Time (sec.) (Avg. value ± S.D.)

0% (distilled water) 53 sec
25 % 78 sec
50 % 265 sec
66.7 % 405 sec

5.2: Figures

Figure 1: Shows the change in sucrose concentration versus time

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 Pharmaceutical Syrups

5.3: Sample of calculations

•Time taken for flavoring syrup to pass through the beads: 84 sec

•Y (Concentration of flavoring syrup) = [0.0013 (84) + 0.1535] * 100

• Y 26.27 %

•Pure Ethanol volume

•1 g of sucrose 0.63 ml of sucrose

1 g of sucrose preserves 0.54 ml of water

•25 g of sucrose = 0.63 * 25 = 15.75 ml of sucrose

•Volume of water preserved by 25 g sucrose = 0.54*25 = 13.5ml

•Volume of orange oil = 1 ml

•Each ml of glycerin preserves equivalent quantity of volume

i.Volume preserved by glycerin = 15 ml

ii.Volume of glycerin = 15 ml
•Volume of free water = volume of solution – (15.75+13.5+1+15+15)

= 100 – 60.25 = 39.75 ml preserved by 18% Ethanol

•0.18 = Volume of Ethanol / Volume of free water

0.18 = V/ 39.75

V = 7.155 ml of 100% Ethanol

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 Pharmaceutical Syrups

5.4: Discussion

As shown in table 1, we first measured the time take for the distilled water to pass through the
beads in the burette and this was used as a control. The beads in the burette reached a height of
25 ml and this was kept constant for all the tests. Then we measured the time taken for different
sucrose concentrations contained in the simple syrup to pass through the beads. The
concentrations were 25% , 50% , 66.7% respectively. The theory states that the higher the
sucrose concentration in the syrup, the more time required for the syrup to pass through the
beads in the burette. As shown in Figure 1, the experimental data supports this theory and the
graph is shown to be a straight line which means that the concentration of sucrose is directly
proportional to the time taken. As the sucrose concentration increases, the time taken for the
syrup to pass through the beads also increases. Using the straight line equation obtained from
Figure 1 and by knowing the time taken for the flavoring syrup to pass through the beads which
was 84 s , the concentration of sucrose in the flavoring syrup was calculated to be 26.27%. The
alcohol volume required to preserve the flavoring syrup was calculated above using the free-
water method and it was 7.155ml of 100% pure Ethanol . One may assume that free water is
preserved by 18% alcohol.

The simple syrup solution that we prepared gave us a clear solution after filtrating once.
However, the flavoring syrup was cloudy and required double filtration to give us a clear
solution.

6: Conclusion

In this experiment, we prepared two types of syrups , simple syrup (USP) and flavoring syrup
which is non medicated. The effect of increasing the sucrose concentration in the syrup on the
time taken for it to pass through the beads in the burette was identified. The higher the sucrose
concentration, the more time needed for the syrup to pass through the beads.

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7: Signed Data Sheet

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8. References:

1. Esra’a Albarahmieh, Dr., Hadeel AbedAlfattah, Ph. and Hadeel Almaayah, Ph., 2021.
Laboratory Manual for Pharmaceutical Technology -Liquid Forms Lab (PCE 373)
(Pharmaceutical Syrups). [PDF].

2. hadeel hekmat, 2021. Preparation of Syrups (Theoretical Part). [online] Youtube.com.

Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvgGaxPpdIo>.

3. hadeel hekmat, 2021. Preparation of Syrup (Practical Part). [online] Youtube.com. Available
at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg8B9fabcZQ>.

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