A study of homogeneous nucleation of ibuprofen in a flow chamber. Determination of the surface tension of critical nuclei

Homogeneous nucleation of ibuprofen vapor is studied in a nucleation flow chamber, a horizontal quartz tube equipped with an external heater. The area of the chamber where the nucleation proceeds most efficiently is determined, and the volume of this area is estimated. The temperature and supersaturation are determined and the homogeneous nucleation rate is calculated for this area. Saturation vapor pressure over liquid ibuprofen is measured in a temperature range of 353–383 K. Using an exact formula that has recently been derived for the nucleation rate based on the works by Kusaka, Reiss, as well as the Frenkel liquid-kinetics theory, surface tension and the radius of surface of tension of a critical nucleus σ= 25.9 mN/m and R _s = 1.6 nm, respectively, are calculated at 318 K. The measurement of the surface tension of an ibuprofen planar surface shows that, at 318 K, σ_∞ = 24.38 mN/m; i.e., σ is higher than σ_∞ by 6%. A critical nucleus is established as containing nearly 36 ibuprofen molecules.