Empty Vegetable Capsules – “00”

Standard vegetable capsules in the “00” size. Empty vegetable capsules consist of only two ingredients: HPMC and purified water. HPMC — Hydroxypropylmethylcellulose — is derived from vegetable cellulose. 100% natural, these capsules contain no preservatives, gelatin, wheat, animal by-products or starch, and they are made from plant cellulose of either pine or poplar.

Hypromellose (INN), short for hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC), is a semisynthetic, inert, viscoelastic polymer used as eye drops, as well as an excipient and controlled-delivery component in oral medicaments, found in a variety of commercial products.As a food additive, hypromellose is an emulsifier, thickening and suspending agent, and an alternative to animal gelatin. Its Codex Alimentarius code (E number) is E464. Hypromellose is solid, and is a slightly off-white to beige powder in appearance and may be formed into granules. The compound forms colloids when dissolved in water. This non-toxic ingredient is combustible and can react vigorously with oxidising agents.

Hypromellose in an aqueous solution, unlike methylcellulose, exhibits a thermal gelation property. That is, when the solution heats up to a critical temperature, the solution congeals into a non-flowable but semi-flexible mass. Typically, this critical (congealing) temperature is inversely related to both the solution concentration of HPMC and the concentration of the methoxy group within the HPMC molecule (which in turn depends on both the degree of substitution of the methoxy group and the molar substitution. That is, the higher the concentration of the methoxy group, the lower the critical temperature. The inflexibility/viscosity of the resulting mass, however, is directly related to the concentration of the methoxy group (the higher the concentration, the more viscous or less flexible the resulting mass is).

Vegetable capsules are Kosher and Halal certified. Our vegetable capsules are GMO-free and free of preservatives and of gluten. Vegetable capsules are manufactured in accordance with GMP and ISO 9002 regulations and without the addition of ethylene oxide or sulphites. These capsules are not intended for use with herbs purchased from this website.