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

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.

The overall study showed the influence of biofield treatment on physical and thermal properties of MTA. XRD result showed that crystallite size was decreased by 42.86% in treated MTA samples as compared to control, which might be due to fracturing of grains into sub grains caused by lattice strain produced via biofield energy. The surface area analysis showed an increase in surface area of 107.14% in treated MTA sample as compared to control. The reduced crystallite size and increased surface area may lead to increasing the reaction kinetics of MTA, which could make it more useful as an intermediate compound. Thermal analysis data revealed that latent heat of fusion was reduced by 40.32% in treated MTA as compared to control. TGA/DTG studies showed that Tmax was decreased by 1.97% in treated MTA samples. On the basis of reduction in Tmax, it is hypothesized that MTA molecules turn into vapour phase at low temperature as compared to control. Hence, molecules in vapour phase may collide more frequently with other reactants in any reaction that might enhance the rate of reaction. Therefore, it is assumed that biofield treated MTA could be more useful as an intermediate in the production of various pharmaceutical products.