Improved dissolution and bioavailability of silymarin delivered by a solid dispersion prepared using supercritical fluids

The objective of this study was to improve the dissolution and bioavailability of silymarin(SM).Solid dispersions(SDs)were prepared using solution-enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids(SEDS)and evaluated in vitro and in vivo,compared with pure SM powder.The particle sizes,stability,and contents of residual solvent of the prepared SM-SDs with SEDS and solvent evaporation(SE)were investigated.Four polymer matrix materials were evaluated for the preparation of SM-SD-SEDS,and the hydrophilic polymer,polyvinyl pyrrolidone K17,was selected with a ratio of 1:5 between SM and the polymer.Physicochemical analyses using X-ray diffraction and differential scanning calorimetry indicated that SM was dispersed in SD in an amorphous state.The optimized SM-SD-SEDS showed no loss of SM after storage for 6 months and negligible residual solvent(ethanol)was detected using gas chromatography.In vitro drug release was increased from the SM-SDSEDS,as compared with pure SM powder or SM-SD-SE.In vivo,the area under the rat plasma SM concentration-time curve and the maximum plasma SM concentration were 2.4-fold and 1.9-fold higher,respectively,after oral administration of SM-SD-SEDS as compared with an aqueous SM suspension.These results illustrated the potential of using SEDS to prepare SM-SD,further improving the biopharmaceutical properties of this compound.

Effect of Supercritical Fluids on the Biological Activity of Absidia coerulea for the Hydroxylation of Reichsterin's Substance Acetate

The viability and biological activity of Absidia coerulea in compressed or supercritical CO2 and C2H4 were studied. The specific activity of Absidia coerulea in 7.5MPa CO2 and C2H4 at 306K can reach to 23% and 75% respectively, leading to the feasibility of using supercritical C2H4 as an alternative to the organic solvent in the hydroxylation of Reichsterin’s substance acetate.

Constant-Volume Heat Capacity of Mixed Supercritical Fluids and Molecular Interaction in the Systems

Constant-volume heat capacities of supercritical (SC) CO2, SC CO2-n-pentane, and SC CO2-n-heptane mixtures were determined at 308.15 K in the pressure range from 6 to 12 MPa. It was found that there is a maximum in each heat capacity vs pressure curve. Intermolecular interaction in the fluids was studied.

Heat transfer behaviors of some supercritical fluids: A review

Supercritical fluids(e.g.,hydrocarbon fuels,water,carbon dioxide,and organic working medium,etc)have been recognized as working media to improve thermal efficiencies in power cycles and energy conversion,and have been used or selected as the working fluids in engineering fields such as aerospace,nuclear power,solar energy,refrigeration,geothermal energy,chemical technology,and so on.To better understand the interesting characteristic or abnormal behaviors of supercritical fluids,most valuable research works(including experimental results and numerical studies)from domestic and abroad have been documented.As such,this paper presents a comprehensive review on heat transfer behaviors of some supercritical fluids in engineering applications.This review focuses on recently available articles published mainly from 2016 up to the present time.The common problems(i.e.,heat transfer enhancement and heat transfer deterioration particularly for the supercritical hydrocarbon fuels)in the supercritical field are summarized and some perspectives on future prospects are also included.

Hybrid Particle Swarm-Ant Colony Algorithm to Describe the Phase Equilibrium of Systems Containing Supercritical Fluids with Ionic Liquids

Based on biologically inspired algorithms,a thermodynamic model to describe the vapor-liquid equilibrium of binary complex mixtures containing supercritical fluids and ionic liquids,is presented.The Peng-Robinson equation of state with the Wong-Sandler mixing rules are used to evaluate the fugacity coefficient on the systems.Then,a hybrid particle swarm-ant colony optimization was used to minimize the difference between calculated and experimental bubble pressure,and calculate the binary interaction parameters for the excess Gibbs free energy of all systems used.Simulations are carried out in nine systems with imidazolium-based ionic liquids.The results show that the bubble pressures were correlated with low deviations between experimental and calculated values.These deviations show that the proposed hybrid algorithm is the preferable method to describe the phase equilibrium of these complex mixtures,and can be used for other similar systems.

Supercritical fluids:Clean solvents for green chemistry

Supercritical fluids are becoming increasingly attractive as environmentally acceptable replacement for organic solvents in chemical reactions and material processing. This paper highlights some of the properties of supercritical fluids, especially supercritical CO2, which offer particular advantages for the handling of polymers, metal complexes and the environmentally more friendly synthesis and manufacture of chemicals. The paper includes same of the researches in University of Nottingham and a number of recent reviews which together provide a comprehensive introduction.

Study of Variable Turbulent Prandtl Number Model for Heat Transfer to Supercritical Fluids in Vertical Tubes

In order to improve the prediction performance of the numerical simulations for heat transfer of supercritical pressure fluids, a variable turbulent Prandtl number(Pr_t) model for vertical upward flow at supercritical pressures was developed in this study. The effects of Pr_t on the numerical simulation were analyzed, especially for the heat transfer deterioration conditions. Based on the analyses, the turbulent Prandtl number was modeled as a function of the turbulent viscosity ratio and molecular Prandtl number. The model was evaluated using experimental heat transfer data of CO_2, water and Freon. The wall temperatures, including the heat transfer deterioration cases, were more accurately predicted by this model than by traditional numerical calculations with a constant Pr_t. By analyzing the predicted results with and without the variable Pr_t model, it was found that the predicted velocity distribution and turbulent mixing characteristics with the variable Pr_t model are quite different from that predicted by a constant Pr_t. When heat transfer deterioration occurs, the radial velocity profile deviates from the log-law profile and the restrained turbulent mixing then leads to the deteriorated heat transfer.

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Essential Oil from Dry Rhizome of Ligusticum chuanxiong Hort and Their Characterization by GC/MS

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of essential oil from dry rhizome ofLigusticum chuanxiong Hort was developed. GC/MS was used for the determination of the composition ofessential oil. Forty-four compounds were identified. The conventional extraction method wasconducted in parallel for comparison. The extracts were qualitatively compared by GC/MS. The yieldsof SFE and steam distillation-extraction were 4.16 % ( v/w) and 0.8 % ( v/w), respectively.Application of SFE of zessential oil from dry rhizome of Ligustiaan chuanxiong Hort was preferable.

Carotenoids Particle Formation by Supercritical Fluid Technologies

Based on the solubility in supercritical CO2,two strategies in which CO2 plays different roles are used to make quercetine and astaxanthin particles by supercritical fluid technologies.The experimental results showed that micronized quercetine particles with mean particle size of 1.0-1.5 μm can be made via solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids(SEDS) process,in which CO2 worked as turbulent anti-solvent;while for astaxanthin,micronized particles with mean particle size of 0.3-0.8 μm were also made successfully by rapid expansion supercritical solution(RESS) process.

Simultaneous Removal of Surfactant Template from MCM-41 and Implantation of Transition Metal Complexes into Mesopores with Supercritical Fluid

The simultaneous removal of up to 92% of the surfactant template and chemical implantation of transition metal complexes into mesopores has been successfully achieved by treating as-synthesized pure siliceous MCM-41 with supercritical CO2 modified with CH2Cl2/MeOH mixture, resulting in the formation of functionalized material with uniform pore structure.

Recent Research Progress of Chemical Reactions under Supercritical Conditions

Chemical reactions (such as hydrogenation, hydroformylation, alkylation, esterification, etc.) at supercritical conditions afford opportunities to manipulate the solubility of reactants and products, to eliminate interphase transport limitations in the reaction systems, and to be beneficial to the environment. This review concentrates on the most recent developments after 2001 with only a brief summary of pioneering research work before 2001.

Numerical Investigations on Supercritical Heat Transfer Characteristics of Environmental Friendly Refrigerants

The heat transfer of supercritical fluids is a vastly growing field, specifically to find suitable alternatives to replace conventional R134a, which can be beneficial for climate change. Most of the experimental and numerical investigations have been conducted to explore supercritical water, carbon dioxide and R134a as heat transfer working fluids. Hydrofluoroolefin (HFO) and refrigerants blends have been considered the most environment-friendly refrigerants to replace Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), Hydrochlorofluoro-carbons (HCFCs) and Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs). Their main advantage of zero Ozone Depletion Potential (ODP) and comparatively lower Global Warming Potential (GWP) have attracted growing amount of attention to mitigate environmental issues. This work adopts the computational method and takes the environmentally friendly refrigerants to investigate the heat transfer characteristics under widely used shear-stress transport (SST) model. A comprehensive comparison was performed at reduced pressure of 1.10 for supercritical fluids R515A, R1234ze(E) and R134a. The peaks of heat transfer coefficient occurred in the vicinity of pseudo critical temperature for all of these considered fluids;however, R134a resulted in higher heat transfer coefficient, Reynolds number and Prandtl number in comparison with R515A and R1234ze(E). The higher heat transfer coefficient of supercritical fluid R134a is owing to its thermophysical properties and the specific heat plays crucial role in the heat transfer of supercritical fluids. Owing to environmental issues, R515A can be a considerable replacement of R134a. R1234ze(E) is also promising alternative to R134a;however, safety issues should thoroughly concern its mild flammable characteristics.

Oxidation of Styrene with Molecular Oxygen in Supercritical CO_2

The oxidation of styrene with molecular oxygen catalyzed by PdCl2+CuCl2 has been investigated in supercritical CO2 with a batch reactor. The oxidative system of styrene contains four components at the beginning and seven components during the reaction. The critical temperature, critical pressure, and critical density at different conversions are determined by using a high-pressure view cell. The effect of phase behavior on the conversion and selectivity were studied. Experimental results showed that the critical parameters of the reaction mixture at fixed initial molar ratio changed with the conversion of reactant. The conversion of styrene reached maximum near the critical density of the reaction mixture. Product selectivity also varied with density of reaction mixture and could be tuned to some degree.

Measurement and Correlation of Solid Drugs Solubility in Supercritical Systems

A dynamic experimental set-up was utilized to measure ibuprofen solubility in supercritical CO2 at the pressure range of 8-13 MPa and the temperatures of 308, 313 and 318 K. Mole fraction values varied from 0.015＆#215;10^-3 to 3.261＆#215;10^-3 and correlated by using seven different semi empirical equations of state （Bartle, Modi-fied Bartle, Mendez-Teja, Modified Mendez-Teja, Kumar-Johnson, Sung-shim and Gordillo） as well as seven cubic equations of state （van der Waals, Redlich-Kwong, Soave-Redlich-Kwong, Peng-Robinson, Stryjek-Vera, Patel-Teja-Valderana and Pazuki）. Single and twin-parametric van der Walls mixing rules （vdW1, vdW2） were ap-plied in order to estimate the supercritical solution properties. The physicochemical properties were also obtained using Joback, Lydersen and Ambrose methods. Absolute average relatives deviation （AARD） were calculated and compared for all the correlating systems. Results showed that among the cubic equations of state （EOSs） the Pazuki equation （AARD=19.85% using vdW1 and AARD=8.79% using vdW2） and SRK equation （AARD=19.20%using vdW1 and AARD=10.03%using vdW2） predicted the ibuprofen solubility in supercritical CO2 with the least error in comparison to the others. Among the semi-empirical EOSs the most desirable deviation （AARD〈10%） was obtained by using Modified Bartle and Modified Mendez-Teja equations in all the studied temperatures.

The origin of the crustal conductive layer and the conductivity of supercritical brine（Ⅱ）

This paper is the second one of a series of three papers on fluid evolution of the crust upper mantle and the causes of earthquakes. Based on the first paper, two conductive mechanisms of the crustal conductive layer(CCL), graphite and supercritical saline aqueous fluids, are discussed. As there are difficulties for graphite model, the supercritical fluids are investigated in this paper concerning the phases, the electrically conductive behaviors, the evolution and the sealing mechanisms of the fluids. It is obvious that this model is reasonable to explain the geophysical and geochemical characteristics of the CCL presented in the first paper.

Advances in Supercritical Fluid Crystallization

The supercritical fluid crystallization technique is a novel technology for preparing ultrafine particles. This paper introduced the concept and features of the technique with an emphasis on three kinds of supercritical fluid crystallization techniques, i.e. rapid expansion of supercritical solutions, supercritical fluid anti-solvent and particles from gas saturated solutions Some questions and the prospect of this technique were also discussed.

Production of De-asphalted Oil and Fine Asphalt Particles by Supercritical Extraction

A continuous three-stage supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) process with a capacity of 1.0kg.h^-1 was setup to extract petroleum residue by pentane to obtain more oil for further upgrading. A discharging system integrated to the bottom of the extractor was used to recover solvent as gas while asphalt was obtained as fine particles. The influence of operating conditions on the yield and quality of extracts, i.e., deasphalted oil (DAO) and resin, was studied in the range of temperature 150-220℃, pressure of 4.0-6.0 MPa and the mass ratio of solvent to oil feed (S/O) 2.5-5.0. The particle size distribution, apparent forms and the packing density, which vary with operating pressure, were measured. The particle structures were observed by SEM as well. With the modification to conventional processes, furnace can be eliminated for solvent recovery from asphalt phase, so as to reduce energy consumption.

Isolation and Extraction of Total Flavonoids from Epimedium Koreanum Nakai by Supercritical Fluid Extraction

In the present paper is reported the method for the isolation and extraction of total flavonoids of Epimedium Koreanum Nakai by means of supercritical fluid extraction(SFE). By examining pressure, temperature, amounts of modifier and extraction time, the optimized condition of SFE is confirmed as 30 MPa and 60 ℃, with 70% ethanol as the modifier. The samples were statically extracted for 30 min, followed by dynamic extraction for 120 min at a flow rate of 6 mL/min. The quantitative analysis of total flavonoids was performed by UV-Vis spectrophotometry. Compared with the conventional method, the SFE method is more efficient, more rapid and more friendly environmentally.

Pretreatment of Corn Stover Using Supercritical CO2 with Water-Ethanol as Co-solvent

Supercritical carbon dioxide,with water-ethanol as co-solvent,was applied to pretreat corn stover to enhance its enzymatic hydrolysis.The efficiency of pretreatment was evaluated by the final reducing sugar yield obtained from the enzymatic hydrolysis of cellulose.Under the operation conditions of pretreatment pressure 15 MPa,temperature 180 ℃ and time 1 h,the optimal sugar yield of 77.8℅ was obtained.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) and chemical composition analysis were applied to the pretreated corn stover.The results showed that the surface morphology and microscopic structure of pretreated corn stover were greatly changed.After the pretreatment,the contents of hemicellulose and lignin were reduced obviously.Thus more cellulose was exposed,increasing the sugar yield.

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Total Flavonoids from Leaves of Acanthopanax Senticosus Harms

The herbal plant Acanthopanax Senticosus Harms is natural herb of Changbaishan in Jilin Province of China, which belongs to the Araliaceae family. As the ingredients of folk medicine, it has long been used to treat a variety of human diseases, such as cerebrovascular disease, diabetes, tumor, isochemic heart diseases, hypertension, rheumatic arthritis, etc. E2,33. Flavonoids, a class of constituent compounds, which have a broad distribution in the nature and are found in Acanthopanax Senticosus Harms, have gained particular attention. A number of studies have shown that flavonoid compounds have wide biological activities, such as anti-aging, anticancer, anti-HIV,