General Statements

The „Fiedler - Encyclopedia of Excipients“, first published as a book by H. P. Fiedler in 1971, is now an up-to-date online system, which serves as a unique collection of information about excipients used in pharmacy, cosmetics and related fields. It offers more than 12'000 entries covering all excipients used in dosage forms. There are two different types of monographs:

1. Basic monographs giving general information on the properties of a substance and

2. Trademark monographs giving information on the specific properties and features of a marketed product, produced by a specific company.

Basic monographs refer to trademark monographs and vice versa. Both types of monographs follow the same scheme:

• Name of the monograph

• Companies producing the excipient

• Definition: Pharmacopoeial, INCI and chemical names, synonyms and trademarks, CAS/EINECS number, chemical structure and molecular weight

• Preparation: Short hint on synthesis or preparation method

• Properties: Appearance, solubility and density

• Product data: All other chemical and physico-chemical data available

• Applications: Main uses in pharmacy and cosmetics, illustrated by examples wherever possible

• Toxicology: Basic data on toxicology with focus on review articles

• Analytics: Hints on methods for the determination of the substance

• References: Literature citations of articles being of interest and not included into the single chapters of the monograph

Trademark monographs normally do not contain data on preparation, toxicology and analytics, because they do not differ from the general description in the corresponding basic monograph. Exceptions are possible, e. g., if there is a product only as one trademark available. The year of the last revision will be added to each monograph.

A manufacturers directory is added, giving the full address, including telephone and fax, as well as the internet an email links of the producer and its affiliates in Europe, North and/or South America and Asia. For each manufacturer the complete list of its excipients is given

In 2010, the “Fiedler - Encyclopedia of Excipients” was taken over by the Wissenschaftliche Verlagsgesellschaft Stuttgart, and from now it will be updated monthly. The authors/editors would like to thank Dr. Klaus G. Brauer, Dr. Eberhard Scholz and Mrs. Pia Rinker for their interest and effort to create a modern electronic data base on pharmaceutical and cosmetic excipients.

Ludwigshafen, Kelkheim and Nürnberg

S. Lang, A. K. Reng and P. C. Schmidt