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

Sci Rep. 2024 Dec 4;14(1):30191. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-82053-y.

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: Modeling; PC-SAFT; Solubility; Sulfasalazine; Supercritical fluid.