Physical, Thermal and Spectral Properties of Biofield Treated 3-Nitroacetophenone

3-Nitroacetophenone (3-NAP) is an organic compound used as an intermediate for the synthesis of pharmaceutical agents. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of biofield energy treatment on the physical, thermal and spectral properties of 3-NAP. The study was performed in two groups i.e. control and treated. The control group remained as untreated, and the treated group received Mr. Trivedi’s biofield energy treatment. The control and treated 3-NAP samples were further characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), laser particle size analyzer, surface area analyzer, Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, and ultra violet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis) analysis. The XRD analysis showed decrease in crystallite size of treated 3-NAP by 20.27% as compared to the control sample. However, the XRD peaks of treated sample showed an increase in intensity as compared to the control. The DSC result showed a slight increase in melting temperature of treated 3-NAP (80.75ºC) with respect to the control (79.39ºC). The latent heat of fusion of treated 3-NAP was changed by 16.28% as compared to the control sample. The TGA analysis showed an increase in onset temperature of treated sample (192ºC) as compared to the control sample (182ºC). Further, the maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) of treated 3-NAP was increased as compared to the control. This showed the increase in thermal stability of treated 3-NAP with respect to control. The treated 3-NAP showed an increase in average particle size (d50) by 27.6% along with an increase in size exhibited by 99% of particles (d99) by 4.9% as compared to the control. Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) analysis showed a substantial decrease in surface area by 24.6% with respect to the control. The FT-IR analysis showed an emergence of peak at 1558 cm-1 in treated 3-NAP sample as compared to the control. Nevertheless, the UV spectral analysis of treated 3-NAP showed no alterations in absorption peaks as compared to the control. Altogether, the result showed that biofield energy treatment has altered the physical, thermal and spectral properties of treated 3-NAP as compared to the control.

In summary, XRD data revealed the decrease in crystallite size of treated sample by 20.27% and an increase in the intensity of peaks as compared to the control sample. It is assumed that biofield treatment may provide the energy that caused an increase in strain and displacement of ideal lattice positions leading to decrease in crystallite size. DSC analysis showed a change in the latent heat of fusion of treated 3-NAP by 16.28% with respect to the control sample. TGA analysis revealed the increase in thermal stability of treated 3-NAP, which was evidenced by an increase in Tmax and onset temperature of the treated sample. Additionally, reduction in weight loss of treated 3-NAP was noticed as compared to the control. Particle size analysis showed an increase in d50 and d99 by 27.6 and 4.9%, respectively as compared to the control sample. It is assumed that biofield treatment provided the energy that caused treated 3-NAP particles to coalesce with one another to form bigger microparticles. BET analysis showed a substantial decrease in surface area of treated sample that was supported by an increase in particle size. FT-IR analysis showed an emergence of new peak at 1558 cm-1 after biofield treatment in 3-NAP as compared to the control sample. Overall, the result demonstrated that biofield energy treatment has affected the physical, thermal and spectral properties of treated 3-NAP. It is assumed that biofield treated 3-NAP could be used as intermediate for synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds.