Caffeine Anhydrous

Caffeine anhydrous is 1,3,7-trimethylxanthine, a purine alkaloid: CAS 58-08-2, C8H10N4O2, 194.19 g/mol. Thovek supplies it against the USP monograph, which allows either the anhydrous or the hydrous form and requires 98.5 to 101.0% of C8H10N4O2 on the anhydrous basis; the material shipped here is the anhydrous form, so water loss on drying at 80 °C for four hours is limited to 0.5% rather than the 8.5% the monohydrate is allowed. USP describes caffeine as a white powder or white glistening needles usually matted together, odourless, with a bitter taste and solutions neutral to litmus. Melting range is 235 to 239 °C after drying, residue on ignition not more than 0.1% and heavy metals not more than 0.001%, with the readily carbonizable substances and other-alkaloids tests both part of release. For formulators the practical figures are solubility and particle size. Caffeine is sparingly soluble in water — about 21.6 g/L at 25 °C, one gram dissolving in 46 ml of water at 25 °C but only 5.5 ml at 80 °C and 1.5 ml of boiling water — so hot dissolution and cold-fill sequencing matter in beverage work, and precipitation on chilling is the failure mode to test for. It is freely soluble in chloroform and only slightly soluble in ether and in alcohol. The standard cut is a fine powder for dry blends, sachets and beverage bases; a granular grade is available where direct compression, dosing accuracy or low dusting matters, and a 30 to 60 mesh cut suits capsule filling. Caffeine is potent by weight and intensely bitter, so containment, dust control and dedicated scoops on the buyer's line are worth specifying alongside the flavour masking. Two supply questions come up on nearly every enquiry. The first is origin: caffeine anhydrous is available either as pharmaceutical synthetic material or as caffeine recovered from green coffee and tea decaffeination, the latter sold into products carrying a natural-origin position — both meet the same monograph, both are vegan and non-animal, and both are free of milk, egg, soya, fish, crustacean, gluten and nut inputs, so state which is required at enquiry rather than at order. The second is labelling. Under Annex III of Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 a beverage above 150 mg of caffeine per litre must carry 'High caffeine content. Not recommended for children or pregnant or breast-feeding women' with the content in mg per 100 ml, and foods other than beverages with added caffeine carry a parallel statement, expressed per recommended daily portion for food supplements. Thovek supplies caffeine business-to-business as a formulation ingredient only; dose limits and consumer-facing presentation in the destination market are the buyer's responsibility.