Transmission of p-anisic acid through nanofiltration and goat membranes Pankaj J. Gandhi, Z.V.P. Murthy ⁎ Department of Chemical Engineering, S. V. National Institute of Technology, Surat — 395 007, Gujarat, India HIGHLIGHTS ► p-Anisic acid transmission through NF membranes is reported for the first time. ► This study provides useful information for product development in medical science. ► It gives an idea on local drug delivery in dermal and post breast cancer treatments. ► Transmission is affected by pressure, temperature, and feed flow rate. abstract article info Article history: Received 11 May 2012 Received in revised form 4 August 2012 Accepted 2 September 2012 Available online 26 September 2012 Keywords: p-Anisic acid Nanoparticles Nanofiltration Goat membrane Zeta potential Mass transfer coefficient The aim of this work was to study the transmission of p-anisic acid through two different membranes, viz., commercially available nanofiltration membrane (NF-300) and a goat membrane. The p-anisic acid is a crystalline organic compound having vital applications in medical science for the treatment of Parkinson's disease, hepatitis B and C viruses, liver diseases, post radiation treatment of breast cancer, and skin desquamation. The study of transmission (or rejection) of material and change in the permeate flux have been made with respect to changes in feed concentration, pH, cross flow velocity, time and temperature and found that the transmission of p-anisic acid is affected by the type of membrane, its pore size and structure of pores. Also a study pertaining to the mass transfer coefficient has been made and evaluated the same with different theories. Mass transfer of p-anisic acid is explained in a better way by the simple graphical theory. The transmission of p-anisic acid is affected by the membrane structure and its type. A higher transmission was observed through the goat membrane. Using nanosize particles the drug dosage can be reduced with better diffusion, further, toxicological aspects can also be reduced. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Nanosize particles are gaining importance in various research activities and industries such as cosmetics, dyes, electronics, pharma- ceuticals and many more [1]. In pharmaceutical industry for active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), particles with less than 1 micron size are considered as nanoparticles [2]. Modern drug delivery systems have realized the importance of nanosize particles for deriving better results [3]. Most of the newly developed drugs are poorly soluble in water, and poor solubility results in low bioavailability or erratic absorption of drugs [2–7]. The p-anisic acid, an organic compound, found naturally in anise is a white crystalline solid, which is insoluble in water at room temperature, and soluble in alcohols, ether and ethyl acetate [8]. Improvement in drug solubility makes them suitable for absorption in gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream and helps them reach the site of action [9]. Organic solvents selectively adsorb to the specific faces of the crystal and suitably dissolve them. Ethanol was selected as the solvent due to its extensive use in pharmaceutical synthesis, good solubility of many organic solutes at high concentrations and easy availability. The p-anisic acid is being widely used as an aroma component in foodstuff [10], as a preservative in skincare products [10,11], and as a drug in dermatological applica- tions [12]. The p-anisic acid is having an antineurotoxic behavior, which is useful for developing drug formulation for addressing Parkinson's dis- ease [13,14]. Gadgoli and Mishra [15] have evaluated antihepatotoxic activity of p-anisic acid which is quite useful for addressing the diseases caused by hepatitis B and hepatitis C viruses and also in the diseases where liver can be damaged by infections. Recent use of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved medicines for curing HIV infected patients have shown hepatotoxic behavior and results into damage of the liver [16,17]. It is estimated that across the globe, more than 90% of breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy suffer from radia- tion dermatitis [18]. Based on the published results [19–25], it has been found that therapeutic doses of radiation results into persistent skin erythema, dry desquamation, moist desquamation rash, pain, Desalination 315 (2013) 46–60 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +91 261 2201641, +91 261 2201642; fax: +91 261 2227334. E-mail addresses: zvpm2000@yahoo.com, zvpm@ched.svnit.ac.in (Z.V.P. Murthy). 0011-9164/$ – see front matter © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.desal.2012.09.002 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Desalination journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/desal