Physical, Thermal and Spectroscopic Characterization of Biofield Treated p-Chloro-m-cresol

P-Chloro-m-cresol(PCMC) is widely used in pharmaceutical industries as biocide and preservative. However, it faces the problems of solubility in water and photo degradation. The aim of present study was to evaluate the impact of biofield treatment on physical, thermal and spectral properties of PCMC. For this study, PCMC sample was divided into two groups i.e., one served as treated and other as control. The treated group received Mr. Trivedi's biofield treatment and both control and treated samples of PCMC were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), surface area analyser, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The XRD result showed a 12.7% increase in crystallite size in treated samples along with increase in peak intensity as compared to control. Moreover, surface area analysis showed a 49.36% increase in surface area of treated PCMC sample as compared to control. The thermal analysis showed significant decrease (25.94%) in the latent heat of fusion in treated sample as compared to control. However, no change was found in other parameters like melting temperature, onset temperature of degradation, and Tmax (temperature at which maximum weight loss occur). The FT-IR spectroscopy did not show any significant change in treated PCMC sample as compared to control. Although, the UV-Vis spectra of treated samples showed characteristic absorption peaks at 206 and 280 nm, the peak at 280 nm was not found in control sample. The control sample showed another absorbance peak at 247 nm. GC-MS data revealed that carbon isotopic ratio (δ13C) was changed up to 204% while δ18O and δ37Cl isotopic ratio were significantly changed up to 142% in treated samples as compared to control. These findings suggest that biofield treatment has significantly altered the physical, thermal and spectroscopic properties, which can affect the solubility and stability of p-chloro-m-cresol and make it more useful as a pharmaceutical ingredient.