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PERSPECTIVES TO DESCRIBE SURFACE PROPERTIES OF RAW PHARMACEUTICAL MATERIALS. A FRACTAL APPROACH ON THE WETTING OF POWDERS

RĂZVAN MIHAI PRISADA ^1#, CRISTINA-ELENA DINU-PÎRVU ^1#, HORAȚIU MOLDOVAN ^2#, MIHAELA VIOLETA GHICA ^1*, ROXANA-ELENA AVRĂMESCU ¹, LĂCRĂMIOARA POPA ¹

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Surface science is a currently expanding field which attracts attention through numerous possible correlations between different superficial phenomena. Modern approaches regarding superficial properties include extreme wetting interpretations through adapted regimes. Moreover, innovative applications arise from special surface properties like superhydrophilicity/ superhydrophobicity, through biomimicry, improving classic materials or generating new better artificial ones, of important interest in many domains. Liquid marbles, known as superhydrophobic-like structures also gained researcher’s attention due to their special superficial properties. Experimental data in this direction are scarce, especially regarding active ingredients in the pharmaceutical domain and taking into account different morphologies and formulation versatility of liquid marbles. This paper focuses on anti-inflammatory powders and their superficial properties as raw pharmaceutical materials, but also as liquid marbles’ components (external phases). Interpretations concern powders wettability degree expressed through contact angles and apparent contact angles of corresponding liquid marbles. These wetting parameters are correlated through a mathematical model, which also allows evaluation of fractal quantitative indexes: rugosity and fractal dimension. Applying a fractal wetting model to anti-inflammatory powders represents a step forward towards proposing contact angles and other wetting parameters as key indicators in pre-formulation processes. Dissolution and absorption of active ingredients are only two examples of processes in which a drug’s pharmacokinetic profile is directly correlated to wetting parameters of its components. The importance of predicting a pharmaceutical products’ behaviour is crucial in designing new products, making superficial properties investigations mandatory steps of the process.