High dilutions of two drugs induce changes in crystal water structure of lactose as revealed by thermogravimetry and differential scanning calorimetry

Ultra-high dilutions (UHD) of drugs used in homeopathy are preserved in sugars. How do solid sugars assimilate characteristics of UHDs? This study attempts to answer this question. The three UHDs of Acid fluoric, Acid nitric, and ethanol were mixed with lactose at 1 µL/g and analyzed by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) to see any change in their crystal water. TG results show a mass loss of 4.9% at 146.8C for Acid fluoric 30 cH, of 7.1% at 146.6C for Acid nitric 30 cH, and5.1% at 146.5C for ethanol. DSC results show that the change in enthalpy for Acid fluoric 30 cH is 157.3 J/g at 153.8C, that for Acid nit 30 cH is 122.8 J/g at 148.3C, and that for ethanol is 154.9 J/g at 156.3C. Bound water in lactose crystals and corresponding enthalpies vary markedly in the three drugs tested. This indicates that the number of hydrogen bonds and their bond strength vary inbound water of medicated lactose crystals

Thermal synthesis of Hematite nanoparticles : structural, magnetic and morphological characterizations

Hematite (α-Fe2O3) nanoparticle was synthesized using organometallic compound - ferrocene carboxaldehyde through solventless solid state thermal decomposition technique. The crystal structure, magnetic and morphological properties of the decomposed material were studied using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) magnetometry, 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) techniques. Structural study confirmed that the synthesized material is hematite with hexagonal phase and good crystallinity. The temperature-dependent magnetization measurement exhibited the Morin transition - the yardstick for hematite formation. Mössbauer spectroscopic study confirmed the purity of phase of the synthesized material. The SEM study observed mostly the agglomerated tiny particles along with some ring-shaped surface structures. The TEM study of the synthesized material showed that the highest distribution of the particles with ~5 nm size. The observed EDX spectra confirmed the existence of Fe and O in the synthesized material. The solid state reaction process leading to hematite on decomposition of ferrocene carboxaldehyde has also been proposed. Present study describes a simple process for the preparation of pure hematite nanoparticle by solventless method