Sugar, Confectioner’s

Synonyms: Icing sugar; powdered sugar.

Description: Confectioner’s sugar occurs as a sweet-tasting, fine, white, odorless powder.

Chemical Name: 

Coating agent; sweetening agent; tablet and capsule diluent.

• Confectioner’s sugar is used in pharmaceutical formulations when a rapidly dissolving form of sugar is required for flavoring or sweetening.

• It is used as a diluent in solid-dosage formulations when a small particle size is necessary to achieve content uniformity in blends with finely divided active ingredients.

• In solutions, at high concentrations (70% w/v), confectioner’s sugar provides increased viscosity along with some preservative effects.

• Confectioner’s sugar is also used in the preparation of sugar-coating solutions and in wet granulations as a binder/diluent

Confectioner’s sugar is incompatible with dilute acids, which cause the hydrolysis of sucrose to invert sugar. It is also incompatible with alkaline earth hydroxides, which react with sucrose to form sucrates.

Confectioner’s sugar is used in confectionery and oral pharmaceutical formulations. It is generally regarded as a relatively nontoxic and nonirritant material. See also Sucrose.

Observe normal precautions appropriate to the circumstances and quantity of material handled. See also Sucrose.

Compressible sugar; sucrose; sugar spheres.