Exploration of the Molecular Interactions Between Polyhydroxy Acid: Gluconolactone and Glycols: A Thermoacoustic and Spectroscopic Method

Abstract

An important part of contemporary nutritional science, both in academia and industry, is understanding how polyhydroxyacids behave in water. With the help of thermo-physical qualities, this work presents a promising chance to expand our understanding of interactions. So, the experiments were conducted using the Anton Paar Density Speed Analyzer 5000 M at a constant experimental pressure of 0.1 MPa and a frequency of 3 MHz to determine the density and sound speed values for the ternary mixes of one of the Polyhydroxy acid: Gluconolactone and Polyethylene glycol-400/4000 at different doses of Gluconolactone (0.08, 0.09, and 0.10) \({mol\bullet kg}^{-1}\). The experimental data was used to calculate various thermo-physical parameters, such as apparent and limiting apparent molar volumes (\({V}_{\phi }\) and \({V}_{\phi }^{0}\)), apparent and limiting apparent molar isentropic compressions (\({K}_{\phi ,s}\) and \({K}_{\phi ,s }^{0}\)), and their transfer properties (\(\Delta {V}_{\phi }^{0}\) and \(\Delta {K}_{\phi ,s }^{0}\)). Triple (ABB) and paired (AB) interactions were computed from the computed coefficients using McMillan–Mayer theory. Parameter calculations indicate that in the case of this ternary mix, solute–solvent synergy is present and predominates, with hydrophilic interactions taking precedence over hydrophobic ones. It has also been tested whether these salts can form or break structures using Hepler’s criterion. Moreover, additional valuable parameters like expansibilities \({E}_{\phi }^{0}\) and their derivatives \((\partial {E}_{\phi }^{0}/\partial T{)}_{p}\) were observed as well.