Thermodynamic solubility and solvation behavior of ferulic acid in different (PEG-400 + water) binary solvent mixtures

Abstract

This work was carried out to determine solubility, solution thermodynamics, solvation behavior, and molecular interactions of a natural compound ferulic acid (FLA) in different ‘[polyethylene glycol-400 (PEG-400) + water]’ binary solvent mixtures at ‘T = 298.2 K to 318.2 K’ and ‘p = 0.1 MPa.’ The mole fraction solubilities (x_e) of FLA were determined by liquid chromatographic technique using a static equilibrium technique. The obtained solubility data of FLA were regressed using ‘Van’t Hoff, Apelblat, Yalkowsky-Roseman and Jouyban-Acree models.’ The solubility of FLA (expressed in mole fraction) was enhanced with elevation in absolute temperature in each ‘PEG-400 + water’ binary solvent mixture evaluated. The maximum x_e values of FLA were recorded in neat PEG-400 (1.94 × 10⁻¹) at ‘T = 318.2 K.’ While, the minimum one was obtained in neat water (4.90 × 10⁻⁵) at ‘T = 298.2 K.’ The molecular interactions between FLA-PEG-400 and FLA-water were obtained by determination of activity coefficients of FLA in different ‘PEG-400 + water’ binary solvent mixtures. The physical data of activity coefficients recorded in this work suggested strong molecular interactions in FLA-PEG-400 in comparison with FLA-water. ‘Apparent thermodynamic analysis’ suggested an ‘endothermic and entropy-driven dissolution’ of FLA in each ‘PEG-400 + water’ binary solvent mixture investigated.

Keywords:

• Activity coefficient
• correlation
• ferulic acid
• polyethylene glycol-400
• thermodynamics
• solubility

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding the work.

Disclosure statement

The authors state that they do not have any conflict of interest associated with this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

The authors would like to extend their sincere appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding the work through the research group project number RG-1435–005.