Thermodynamics Research Center / ThermoML | Journal of Chemical and Engineering Data

ABSTRACT

The solubility of a drug in supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) is an important parameter for preparing the controlled release drug by supercritical fluid technology. In this work, a test technique of the flowing solubility is developed, and the test apparatus is set up based on an improved dynamic method. The solubility of 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) in ScCO2 with or without the cosolvent of ethanol is measured. The effects of the operating parameters including the pressure, the temperature, and the concentration of cosolvent on the solubility of 5-Fu in ScCO2 are investigated experimentally. The obtained solubility data are correlated by Chrastil and Mendez-Santiago and Teja models. The average absolute relative deviation (AARD) of the calculated value with the experimental ones is 3.52 % by the Chrastil model without cosolvent, and it is 14.6 % by the Mendez-Santiago and Teja model with cosolvent of ethanol. The results show that the addition of the ethanol as a cosolvent could significantly increase the solubility of 5-Fu in ScCO2. In addition, the partition coefficients K of 5-Fu between ScCO2 and poly(l-lactic acid) (PLLA) are determined experimentally and correlated by Banchero s empirical equation. The results show that the partition coefficient decreases with the increase of the pressure and increases with the increase of temperature. The calculated value of the partition coefficient K is well consonant with the experimental data, and the AARD is 14.7 %.