Patent Application
20120128795
1. Technical Field
The invention generally relates to a method for production of acid solutions, and more particularly to the production of colorless, non-fuming, hazardless and stable aqua-regia solution. The aqua-regia solution prepared using this process can be used for treatment of diarrhea.
2. Description of the Related Art
Nitric Acid (HN03) is a strong and corrosive acid. Generally in laboratories, the nitric acid is synthesized from copper (II) nitrate or by reacting equal masses of a nitrate salt with 96% sulphuric acid (H2S04), and distilling this mixture at boiling point of nitric acid i.e. 83° C. until only a white crystalline mass (a metal sulphate) remains in the reaction vessel. The red fuming nitric acid obtained may be converted to the white nitric acid. Hydrochloric acid is prepared by dissolving hydrogen chloride into water by an inverted funnel arrangement.
These conventional processes for producing nitric acid and hydrochloric acid are dangerous, hazardous and are not safe. These processes require solvents that are highly corrosive, highly reactive, strong oxidizers and poisonous. Further acid production by these conventional processes produce vapors that can cause breathing difficulties and may lead to pneumonia and pulmonary oedema, which may be fatal. Also swallowing of nitric acid or hydrochloric acid can cause immediate pain and burns of the mouth, throat, oesophagus and gastrointestinal tract. When brought in contact with skin, it can cause redness, pain, and severe skin burns. Concentrated nitric acid solution causes deep ulcers and stains on skin of a yellow or yellow-brown color. Its vapors are irritating and may permanently damage eyes. Long-term exposure to concentrated vapors of nitric acid may cause erosion of teeth and lung damage. People with pre-existing skin disorders, eye disease, or cardiopulmonary diseases may be more susceptible to the effects of this substance.
A mixture of Nitric acid and Hydrochloric acid in an approximate molar ratio of 1:3 is called as aqua-regia. Aqua-regia is ordinarily capable of dissolving gold, platinum, silver etc. Aqua-regia is also used in refining highest quality of gold and is also used in laboratories to clean glassware and other laboratory equipments. Conventionally, aqua-regia is prepared by mixing freshly prepared hydrochloric acid with nitric acid in molar ratio of about 1:3, however, preparation by this conventional method is very dangerous as it prone to bursting. Further it has to be prepared inside a fumehood. Also, aqua-regia prepared by conventional methods is highly unstable and due to a reaction between its components, it quickly loses its effect, further, aqua-regia is a highly corrosive chemical and causes severe burns to one handling it. Due to its high instability and corrosive properties, the application of aqua-regia in treating medical disorders has conventionally not been explored. Therefore there remains a need to develop a process for synthesis of hazardless and stable aqua-regia.
In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a process for production of a colorless, non-fuming, stable and hazardless aqua-regia solution. The process includes heating a dry mixture of a nitrate source, a chloride source and a sulphate source to obtain vapors of aqua-regia and condensing the vapors to form a colorless, non-fuming, stable and hazardless aqua-regia solution.
In another embodiment, a colorless, non-fuming, stable and hazardless aqua-regia is provided.
In yet another embodiment, a system for preparing aqua-regia is provided. The system comprises a reaction chamber, wherein a dry mixture of potassium nitrate, potassium chloride and potassium aluminum sulphate is added to said reaction chamber; a heating means for heating said dry mixture in said reaction chamber to produce vapors of aqua-regia; a condensing means for condensing said vapors to form aqua-regia solution; and a collecting means for collecting said aqua regia solution.
In yet another embodiment, a method for treatment of diarrhea is provided. The method includes administering a diarrhea patient a therapeutically effective amount of aqua-regia or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt comprising aqua-regia or solvate or derivative thereof.
In yet another embodiment, a new, hazardless and safe process for production of colorless, and non-fuming nitric acid solution is provided. The process includes heating a dry mixture of potassium nitrate and potassium aluminum sulphate to obtain vapors of nitric acid and condensing the vapors to form the colorless and non-fuming liquid nitric acid solution.
In yet another embodiment, a colorless and non-fuming nitric acid solution is provided.
In yet another embodiment, a new, hazardless and safe process for production of colorless and non-fuming hydrochloric acid solution is provided. The process includes heating a dry mixture of potassium chloride and potassium aluminum sulphate to obtain vapors of nitric acid and condensing said vapors to form the colorless and non-fuming liquid hydrochloric acid solution.
In yet another embodiment, a colorless and non-fuming hydrochloric acid solution is provided.
These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings. It should be understood, however, that the following descriptions, while indicating preferred embodiments and numerous specific details thereof, are given by way of illustration and not of limitation. Many changes and modifications may be made embodiments herein include all such modifications.
The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:
The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
The present invention provides a process for synthesis of a colorless, non-fuming, stable and hazardless aqua-regia solution which can be used for treating medical disorders. The invention also provides a hazardless and safe process for synthesis of acid solutions such as, but not limited to, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. Referring now to the drawing and more particularly to
In an exemplary embodiment, the ratio of Chloride source, Nitrate source, and Sulphate source in the mixture is 200:125:175 respectively.
The Bunsen burner 102 heats the round bottomed flask 104 at 100° C. On heating, the dry mixture of chloride source (eg. Potassium Chloride (KCl)), nitrate source (eg. Potassium Nitrate (KN03)) and sulphate source (eg. Potassium Aluminum Sulphate (KAL(S04)2)) will react to produce vapors of aqua-regia which will be condensed by the condenser 110. The condenser 110 is connected to a water tap (not shown in figure) through the water inlet 112 to allow water to come in to the condenser and cool the aqua-regia vapors after which the warm water exits condenser through the water outlet 114. In the collecting flask 122 the condensed liquid aqua-regia solution is collected.
A series of confirmatory tests may be performed to confirm the presence of aqua-regia. In an exemplary embodiment, gold dissolves in the solution obtained by above method confirming the solution to be aqua-regia. In another exemplary embodiment, the contents and their concentration of the hazardless and stable aqua-reqia solution obtained by above method is determined by spectroscopic analysis (using spectroquant 118) and is illustrated in a table as shown in
The aqua-regia thus obtained is hazardless, non corrosive and stable. The aqua-regia obtained by above method may be preserved for several years without losing its effectiveness and any of its properties. The method described above produces aqua-regia directly from dry salts without adding any single drop of solvent and is thus safe, hazardless, require less man power and cost effective.
The aqua-regia produced by this method can be used as a therapeutic agent for medical treatments such as, but not limited to, treatment of diarrhea. A single dose of aqua-regia produced by above described method shows a remarkable anti-diarrheal activity evidenced by a reduction in the rate of defecation and a profound decrease in intestinal transit. Aqua-regia obtained by above method possesses dual property of being an anti-diarrheal as well as a rehydrating compound and when used as a drug, it has activity for at least 2 years.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, a system for preparing aqua-regia is provided as shown in
The heating means 302 can be any type of heating equipments that can heat the dry mixture at a temperature of 100° C. such as, but not limited to, burners, flames, candles, solar heaters, heating filaments or heating wires. The condensing means 303 can be any cooling means that can condense the vapors into solution such as, but not limited to, water jacket. The collection means 304 can be any vessel or container.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, a method of treatment of diarrhea is provided. The method includes administering to a patient a therapeutically effective amount of aqua-regia or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt comprising aqua-regia or a solvate or a derivative thereof wherein said aqua-regia is a colorless, non-fuming, hazardless and stable aqua-regia produced according to an exemplary embodiment of the invention described above.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, the apparatus shown in
A series of confirmatory test may be performed to determine the presence of nitrate in the nitric acid solution produced by the hazardless process described above. In an exemplary embodiment, the solution is reacted with ferrous sulphate (FeS04) in a test-tube, followed by slowly adding concentrated sulphuric acid into the reaction mixture which gives brown ring on the inside of test tube. The formation of the brown ring confirms the presence of nitrate ions in the nitric acid solution. The nitric acid solution obtained from above method is found to be non-corrosive and non-fuming and further since the process used for producing nitric acid involves dry salts without any solvent, the process is safe and hazardless.
In yet another exemplary embodiment, the apparatus shown in
The process for producing aqua-regia and acids such as, but not limited to, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid, according to an exemplary embodiment described herein produces aqua-regia and acids directly from dry salts without adding any solvent. Therefore, the process is safe, hazardless, less challenging technically, more efficient and reduces overall cost as well.
The following examples are provided merely as illustrative of various aspects of the invention and shall not be construed to limit the invention in any way. In the following examples, it is to be understood that while efforts have been made to ensure the accuracy of the experimental parameters (e.g., amounts, temperature, etc.), some experimental error and deviation should be taken into account when reproducing the experiments set forth below.
The anti-diarrheal activity of the hazardless and stable aqua-regia in terms of reduction of rate of defecation and consistency of faeces was tested on albino rats. In an embodiment, Swiss albino rats weighing 150-180 g of either sex were selected for the experiment. Animals were allowed to acclimatize for a period of 2 weeks in laboratory environment by housing them in a plurality of polypropylene cages. The polypropylene cages were maintained under standard laboratory conditions at an ambient temperature of 25° C. with 35%-60% humidity. Animals were fed with standard rat pellet diet.
Loperamide (standard reference anti-diarrheal drug), castor oil (laxative agent), and normal saline solution (0.9% NaCl) were used.
The aqua-regia was prepared by heating the dry mixture of three salts i.e. potassium nitrate (125 grams), potassium chloride (200 grams) and potassium aluminum sulphate (175 grams) in round bottom flask 104 without adding any solvent at a temperature of 100° C. for two hours. The salts will combine together and form vapors. That vapors will get condensed due to the water in the condenser 110. Then aqua regia will start to collect in the collecting flask 116 within 15 min after the process had started and it last for two hours to complete the process. The aqua-rega extracted was collected and stored. 0.5 ml of extracted aqua-regia was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water to be used as dosage for treating diarrhea.
Experimental animals were kept on fasting for 18 hrs and divided into three groups of six animals per group. After fasting of 18 hrs, one of the groups labelled as control group receives normal saline (20 ml/kg i.p.), another group of the three receives the reference 10 mg/kg i.p. of the drug loperamide and is labelled as STD group. In the third group each animal receives a dose of 0.03 ml/rat p.o. of the aqua-regia as prepared by the method described above. The group is labelled as aqua-regia group. At one hour post treatment, 2 ml of castor oil was given orally to each animal and the rats were observed for defecation.
Animals of all the groups were placed separately in individual cages lined with filter paper. The filter paper was changed every 1 hour and the severity of diarrhea was assessed hourly for two hours. The total weight of faeces excreted were recorded within a period of two hours and compared with that of the control group. The total weight of diarrheal feces of the control group was considered 100%.
Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's t-test using computerized Graph Pad InStat version 3.05.
The use of the hazardless and stable aqua-regia in rehydrating body cells was tested on albino rats. In an embodiment, Swiss albino rats weighing 150-180 g of either sex were selected for the experiment. Animals were allowed to acclimatize for a period of 2 weeks in laboratory environment by housing them in a plurality of polypropylene cages. The polypropylene cages were maintained under standard laboratory conditions at an ambient temperature of 25° C. with 35%-60% humidity. Animals were fed with standard rat pellet diet.
Atropine sulphate (standard reference anti-diarrheal drug), charcoal meal (10% activated charcoal in 5% gum acacia) and vehicle (2% v/v Tween 80 in distilled water) were used.
The aqua-regia was prepared by heating the dry mixture of three salts i.e. potassium nitrate (125 grams), potassium chloride (200 grams) and potassium aluminum sulphate (175 grams) in round bottom flask 104 without adding any solvent at a temperature of 100° C. for two hours. The salts will combine together and form vapors. That vapors will get condensed due to the water in the condenser 110. Then aqua-regia will start to collect in the collecting flask 116 within 15 min after the process had started and it last for two hours to complete the process. The aqua-regia extracted was collected and stored. 0.5 ml of extracted aqua-regia was dissolved in 100 ml of distilled water to be used as dosage for treating diarrhea.
The gastrointestinal motility test was conducted to illustrate use of aqua-regia in rehydrating body cells, according to an embodiment herein. This test was conducted by using charcoal meal as a diet marker. The rats were divided into three equal groups of six animals each and kept on fasting for eighteen hours before the test. Each animal in the first group labelled as control group was orally administered a dose of 0.5% Tween 80 in distilled water. Each animal in second group received a dose of 0.1 mg/kg of bodyweight of the standard drug atropine sulphate. The group receiving standard drug was STD group. Each animal of the third group received a dose of 0.03 ml of aqua-regia. The group receiving aqua-regia was aqua-regia group. After one hour, each animal of all the groups was given 1 ml of charcoal meal (10% activated charcoal in 5% gum acacia) orally and were sacrificed thirty minutes after administration of the charcoal meal. The distance travelled by the charcoal meal was calculated. The distance covered by the charcoal meal in the intestine was expressed as a percentage of the total distance travelled from the pylorus to the caecum of each animal.
Data were analyzed by one-way ANOVA followed by Dunnett's t-test using computerized Graph Pad InStat version 3.05.
Results of the gastrointestinal motility test are shown in
Previous examples are provided to illustrate but not to limit the scope of the claimed inventions. Other variants of the inventions will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and encompassed by the appended claims. All publications, patents, patent applications and other references cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| IN 3543/CHE/2010 | Nov 2010 | IN | national |
