What are agents called that are used to thicken suspensions?

Suspending agents are specifically designed to help maintain the uniform distribution of solid particles within a liquid by preventing them from settling at the bottom. In pharmaceutical formulations, especially suspensions, these agents play a crucial role in ensuring that the medication remains evenly dispersed, enabling accurate dosing and improved efficacy. By increasing the viscosity of the liquid, suspending agents help stabilize the formulation over time, making them essential in the preparation of liquid medications that contain insoluble solids.

Binding agents, on the other hand, are primarily used in tablet formulations to hold the ingredients together, rather than to enhance the viscosity of suspensions. Thickening agents are a broader category that may include components that increase the viscosity of liquids, but they may not specifically be used to keep solids suspended. Emulsifiers are meant for stabilizing emulsions (mixtures of oil and water) rather than suspensions, which can lead to confusion about their role in formulations involving solids and liquids.

Thus, the term suspending agents precisely describes their function and application in pharmaceutical compounding, clarifying why this is the correct choice in relation to the question posed.