Measuring and modeling the solubility of sulfasalazine in supercritical carbon dioxide to select methods for producing nanoparticles

Abstract

Abstract In the present study, the solubility of sulfasalazine in carbon dioxide was investigated at temperatures ranging from 313 K to 343 K and pressures ranging from 12 to 30 MPa. The experimentally determined molar solubilities of sulfasalazine in ScCO2 were found to be in the range of 4.08 × 10− 5 to 8.61 × 10− 5 at 313 K, 3.54 × 10− 5 to 11.41 × 10− 5 at 323 K, 3.04 × 10− 5 to 13.64 × 10− 5 at 333 K, and 2.66 × 10− 5 to 16.35 × 10− 5 at 343 K. The solubility values were correlated via a number of different types of equations, such as semi-empirical correlations, the Peng-Robinson, the PC-SAFT equation, and the regular solution. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate that semi-empirical, equation of state models, and the regular solution model possess the capability of precisely determining the solubility. Moreover, the solubility magnitude suggests that the gas anti-solvent method may be a viable approach for nanoparticle production.

Keywords

• Sulfasalazine
• Solubility
• Modeling
• Supercritical fluid
• PC-SAFT