Ultrasound-Assisted liquid antisolvent precipitation for the production of nanoparticles

Controlling the particle size during therapeutic synthesis in the crystallization/precipitation process is a challenge as the size influences the solubility, dissolution rates, and flowability. The current study demonstrates the effect of ultrasonic energy on the size and homogeneity of precipitated Albendazole drug particles under various parametric conditions such as organic to aqueous phase ratio, drug concentration, pulse rate, height of beaker from the ultrasonic surface, and frequency. The experiment was performed using One Factor at a Time (OFAT) method. The minimum particle size was obtained 564.3 nm with corresponding Polydispersity Index (PDI) 0.389 resulted under the optimum condition: (32 kHz) frequency, (99:1) pulse rate, and (30 mm) height of beaker from the ultrasonic surface for (10 mg/mL) drug concentration, (1:4) organic to aqueous phase ratio, (30 min) sonication time, and at a temperature of (25 degrees C) in comparison with the precipitation without ultrasonic energy having particle size 1320 nm and PDI 0.716. Hence ultrasound-assisted precipitation promotes micromixing and accelerates the nucleation from diffusion-controlled to integration-controlled continuing to form smaller monodispersed nanoparticles. Copyright (c) 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Selection and peer-review under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on "Green Chemistry and Engineering towards Sustainable Development-An Industrial Perspective".