In this study, difatty acyl urea has been successfully synthesized from corn oil using sodium ethoxide as a catalyst. Ethyl fatty ester and glycerol were produced as by-products. In this reaction, corn oil was refluxed with urea in ethanol. The highest conversion percentage (78%) was obtained when the process was carried out for 8 hours using urea to corn oil ratio of 5.6: 1.0 at 78 degrees C. Both difatty acyl urea and ethyl fatty ester have been characterized using elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique.
N,N'-Carbonyl difatty amides (CDFAs) have been synthesized from palm oil using sodium ethoxide as catalyst. Ethyl fatty esters (EFEs) were produced as a by-product as well as glycerol. The synthesis was carried out by reflux palm oil and urea in presence of ethanol. In this process, palm oil gave 79% pure CDFAs after 8 hours and molar ratio of urea to palm oil was 6.2: 1 at 78 degrees C. Both CDFAs and EFEs have been characterized using elemental analysis, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and (1)H nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique.
Palm oil-based esters (POEs) are unsaturated and non-ionic esters with a great potential to act as chemical penetration enhancers and drug carriers for transdermal drug nano-delivery. A ratio of palmitate ester and nonionic Tween80 with and without diclofenac acid was chosen from an experimentally determined phase diagram. Molecular dynamics simulations were performed for selected compositions over a period of 15 ns. Both micelles showed a prolate-like shape, while adding the drug produced a more compact micellar structure. Our results proposed that the drug could behave as a co-surfactant in our simulated model.
Micro-emulsions and sometimes nano-emulsions are well known candidates to deliver drugs locally. However, the poor rheological properties are marginally affecting their acceptance pharmaceutically. This work aimed to modify the poor flow properties of a nano-scaled emulsion comprising palm olein esters as the oil phase and ibuprofen as the active ingredient for topical delivery. Three Carbopol ® resins: 934, 940 and Ultrez 10, were utilized in various concentrations to achieve these goals. Moreover, phosphate buffer and triethanolamine solutions pH 7.4 were used as neutralizing agents to assess their effects on the gel-forming and swelling properties of Carbopol ® 940. The addition of these polymers caused the produced nano-scaled emulsion to show a dramatic droplets enlargement of the dispersed globules, increased intrinsic viscosity, consistent zeta potential and transparent-to-opaque change in appearance. These changes were relatively influenced by the type and the concentration of the resin used. Carbopol ® 940 and triethanolamine appeared to be superior in achieving the proposed tasks compared to other materials. The higher the pH of triethanolamine solution, the stronger the flow-modifying properties of Carbopol ® 940. Transmission electron microscopy confirmed the formation of a well-arranged gel network of Carbopol ® 940, which was the major cause for all realized changes. Later in vitro permeation studies showed a significant decrease in the drug penetration, thus further modification using 10% w/w menthol or limonene as permeation promoters was performed. This resulted in in vitro and in vivo pharmacodynamics properties that are comparably higher than the reference chosen for this study.
Methyl ester sulphonates (MES) have been considered as an alternative green surfactant for the detergent market. Investigation on the purification of methyl ester sulphonates (MES) with various carbon chains of C12, C14, C16 and C16-18 derived from palm methyl ester is of great interest. These MES powders have been repeatedly crystallized with ethanol and the purity of MES has increased to a maximum of 99% active content and 96% crystallinity index without changing the structure. These crystallized MES with high active content have 1.0% to 2.3% moisture content and retained its di-salt content in the range of 5%. The crystallized MES C16 and C16-18 attained excellent flow characteristics. Morphology, structural and its crystallinity analyses showed that the crystals MES had good solubility properties, stable crystal structure (β polymorphic) and triclinic lateral structure when it is in high active content. The brittleness of MES crystals increased from a β' to a β subcell. Crystal with high brittleness has the potential to ease production of powder, which leads to a reduction in the cost of production and improves efficiency.