Cooling Agents WS-23

WS-23 is widely adopted in e-liquid formulations, with recommended usage levels of 450 to 2,250 ppm for fog-fluid applications. Its primary advantage in vaping is the absence of any minty flavour or odour, which allows the e-liquid's intended flavour profile to remain unaltered while delivering a clean cooling sensation concentrated at the front of the tongue and mouth. In practice, WS-23 is frequently blended with WS-3 in e-liquids to achieve a balanced effect — WS-23 provides an immediate, smooth front-of-mouth coolness while WS-3 contributes a deeper throat hit. Major e-cigarette manufacturers including Vaporesso, JUUL, and Puff Bar are identified as significant consumers of WS-series cooling agents.

Menthol delivers a strong cooling effect but also brings a characteristic minty flavour and can introduce harsh or bitter notes as its concentration increases, which limits its use in products that require very high cooling intensity, especially in non-mint flavour systems. By contrast, WS‑23 provides a clean cooling sensation with minimal minty flavour or odour at typical use levels (often around 0.1–0.3% in foods and oral care products, and higher in applications such as e‑liquids), allowing formulators to achieve stronger cooling without unwanted bitterness or menthol off-notes. WS‑23 is also virtually odourless and tasteless, so it does not introduce minty notes that might clash with fruit, dairy, or other non-mint flavour profiles. In addition, WS‑23 exhibits lower volatility and better heat stability than menthol, which tends to evaporate or degrade more readily during processing and storage, helping WS‑23-based systems maintain more consistent cooling intensity over a product's shelf life.

WS‑23 is supplied as a crystalline solid that can be milled into fine, free-flowing particles, which makes it easy to blend into standard tablet and candy premixes together with conventional excipients such as binders, fillers, and lubricants. In hard candies, typical recommended usage levels fall in the range of about 30 to 150 ppm, while chewing gum formulations often use higher levels, on the order of 1,500 to 9,000 ppm, depending on the desired cooling intensity and the presence of other cooling agents. Many modern compressed lozenges and ring-shaped candies now incorporate WS‑23 as one of their main cooling components, because its almost odourless profile allows fruit, herbal, or other flavour characters to remain the dominant sensory notes instead of being overwhelmed by a strong mint taste.

WS‑23 is sparingly soluble in water at room temperature, but its solubility increases significantly in hot water, which can be used to aid dissolution when processing conditions allow. For ambient‑temperature manufacturing, a practical strategy is to first dissolve WS‑23 in propylene glycol to prepare a stock solution, which can then be directly dispersed or solubilised into the aqueous phase. WS‑23 is also readily soluble in ethanol and in oils or fats, providing additional formulation routes for oil‑based or ethanol‑containing systems such as flavoured beverages, oral care products, or cosmetic sprays. In beverages, typical recommended usage levels are in the range of about 3 to 24 ppm, while mouthwash formulations may range from roughly 15 to 600 ppm, with the exact concentration depending on the desired cooling intensity and the overall flavour and fragrance profile of the water‑based application.