Dissipative structures in extremely diluted solutions of homeopathic medicines: a molecular model based on physico-chemical and gravimetric evidences

Abstract

Conductometric and pHmetric titrations of extremely diluted solutions (EDS) were performed by adding NaOH or HCl solutions at concentrations between 1 × 10 –2 and 1 × 10 –3 M. The aim of this work is to obtain further confirmation of the hypothesized presence, in the EDS, of molecular aggregates of water molecules. The measurements on the EDS evidenced some relevant differences compared to those on solutions with just water as solvent. The conductivity and the pH variations caused by adding the titrant, namely NaOH or HCl were markedly different to those of the control solutions. We suppose that the preparation procedure of the EDS could produce non-equilibrium changes in the supramolecular structure of water. The experimental results were interpreted by considering the interactions that can take place between the OH – or H 3 O + and the hypothesized molecular aggregates of water molecules, i.e. dissipative structures. A qualitative comparison was made about the nature of the driving force that leads to the formation of the complexes between the two ions deriving from water and the molecular aggregates of water molecules (dissipative structures). In this work we have introduced a new methodology to study the EDS and to have more information about the presence of the dissipative structures, i.e. the gravimetric analysis. We evaporate a known quantity of the EDS at 90°C for 36–48 hours, and compare the obtained quantity of solid with the expected one given the chemical composition of the liquid, obtained via analytical measurements: atomic absorption and ICP mass. We systematically obtain that the experimental results are higher than the expected ones. The ratio of the obtained and expected results is about 3:2, putting in evidence that some water remains stable even after a very long treatment at 90°C. A linear correlation is obtained between the solid weight in excess, i.e. the difference between the experimental weight of the solid obtained after the complete evaporation of bulky water and the expected weight according to the chemical composition, ∆mg, and the conductivity in excess, namely the difference between the experimental