Solubility behaviour of griseofulvin in fatty acids

Abstract

Abstract The solubility of griseofulvin in the straight-chain alkanoic acids from C2 to C22 and in the C4 and C5 alkanoic acids branched at C-2 was measured at various temperatures. The enthalpy of fusion of griseofulvin, measured by differential scanning calorimetry, was 39.39 kJ mol−1 at the melting point (495.15 K) and 36.95 kJ mol−1 at 373.15 K. The standard Gibbs free energy (ΔG°), standard enthalpy (ΔH°) and standard entropy (ΔS°) of solution were calculated at 373.15 K, from the van't Hoff plot of the temperature dependence of the mole fraction solubility in terms of the pure supercooled liquid solute as the standard state. With increasing chain length of the alkanoic acid solvents, ΔG° increased in parallel with the increase in pKa of the acids in water, suggesting that the solubility behaviour involves specific solute-solvent proton interactions, while ΔH° and ΔS° fluctuated but tended to decrease in parallel with the corresponding decreases in their enthalpies and entropies of ionization, respectively. The fluctuations in ΔH° and ΔS° may be attributed to the different solid adducts containing griseofulvin and the solvent. An observed non-linear (logarithmic) decrease in solubility with decreasing molality of the carboxyl group in the liquid solvent on ascending the homologous series is attributed to the disturbing influence of the hydrocarbon chains on the specific solute-solvent hydrogen bonding. Chain-branching of the solvent at C-2 gave a reduced solubility of griseofulvin and higher ΔG°, ΔH° and ΔS° values compared with the corresponding straight chain acid.