Physical, Thermal and Spectroscopic Characterization of m-Toluic Acid: an Impact of Biofield Treatment

What is it about?

m-toluic acid (MTA) is widely used in manufacturing of dyes, pharmaceuticals, polymer stabilizers, and insect repellents. The aim of present study was to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physical, thermal and spectroscopic properties of MTA. MTA sample was divided into two groups that served as treated and control. The treated group received Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment. Subsequently, the control and treated samples were evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area analyser, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy. XRD result showed a decrease in crystallite size in treated samples i.e. 42.86% in MTA along with the increase in peak intensity as compared to control. However, surface area analysis showed an increase in surface area of 107.14% in treated MTA sample as compared to control. Furthermore, DSC analysis results showed that the latent heat of fusion was considerably reduced by 40.32%, whereas, the melting temperature was increased (2.23%) in treated MTA sample as compared to control. The melting point of treated MTA was found to be 116.04°C as compared to control (113.51°C) sample. Moreover, TGA/DTG studies showed that the control sample lost 56.25% of its weight, whereas, in treated MTA, it was found 58.60%. Also, Tmax (temperature, at which sample lost maximum of its weight) was decreased by 1.97% in treated MTA sample as compared to control. It indicates that the vaporisation temperature of treated MTA sample might decrease as compared to control. The FT-IR and UV-Vis spectra did not show any significant change in spectral properties of treated MTA sample as compared to control. These findings suggest that biofield treatment has significantly altered the physical and thermal properties of m-toluic acid, which could make them more useful as a chemical intermediate.

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Why is it important?

The m-toluic acid (MTA) is a benzoic acid derivative having a floral honey odour. Benzoic acid occurs naturally in many plants and its name was also derived from a plant source i.e. Gum benzoin. Although it is used as precursor to plasticizers, preservatives such as sodium benzoate, it also has wide application in many pharmaceutical preparations meant for treatment of fungal skin diseases, topical antiseptics, expectorants, analgesics and decongestants [1,2]. The benzoic acid derivatives are also very useful due to their bacteriostatic and fragrant properties. They are used as intermediate in the production of various pharmaceuticals having analgesic, antirheumatic and vasodilator properties [3]. MTA is used as a chemical intermediate in manufacturing of insect repellent and plastic stabilizer in the chemical industry. It is also used in the production of various chemicals like 3-carboxybenzaldehyde, 3-benzoylphenylacetic acid, 3-methylbenzophenone, and N,N-diethyl-3-methylbenzamide etc. [4,5]. It is a main component of N,N-diethyl-m-toluamide, commonly known as DEET, which is first insect repellent that can be applied to skin or clothing and provide protection against mosquitoes and other biting insects [6]. MTA is used as intermediate in various chemical reactions, hence its rate of reaction plays a crucial role. It was reported previously that any alteration in crystallite size and surface area can affect the kinetics of reaction [7]. Moreover, the rate kinetics of any chemical reaction also depends on the thermal properties of the intermediate chemical compound i.e. latent heat of fusion, vaporisation temperature, decomposition temperature etc. [8]. After considering the properties and applications of MTA, authors wanted to investigate an economically safe approach that could be beneficial to modify their physical, thermal and spectral properties. The concept of human bioenergy has its origin thousands of years back. It is scientifically termed as the biologically produced electromagnetic and subtle energy field that provides regulatory and communication functions within the human organs [9]. It generates through internal physiological processes such as blood flow, brain and heart function, etc. Nowadays, many biofield therapies are in practice for their possible therapeutic potentials such as enhanced personal well-being, improved functional ability of arthritis patient, decreased pain and anxiety [10-12]. The practitioners of these therapy claim that the healers channel supraphysical energy and intentionally direct this energy towards target [13]. Thus, a human has the ability to harness the energy from environment or universe and can transmit into any living or non-living object(s). The objects always receive the energy and responding into useful way that is called biofield energy and the process is known as biofield treatment. Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment (The Trivedi effect®) is well known and significantly studied in different fields such as microbiology [14-16], agriculture [17,18], and biotechnology [19]. Exposure to biofield energy caused an increase in medicinal property, growth, and anatomical characteristics of ashwagandha [20]. Recently, the impact of biofield treatment on atomic, crystalline and powder characteristics as well as spectroscopic characters of different materials was studied [21,22]. The biofield treatment had increased the particle size by six fold and enhanced the crystallite size by two fold in zinc powder [23]. Hence, based on the outstanding results obtained after biofield treatment on different materials and considering the pharmaceutical applications of MTA, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physical, thermal and spectroscopic properties of MTA.

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