Characterization of Physical, Spectroscopic and Thermal Properties of Biofield Treated Biphenyl

What is it about?

Biphenyl is used as an intermediate for synthesis of various pharmaceutical compounds. The objective of present research was to investigate the influence of biofield treatment on physical, spectroscopic and thermal properties of biphenyl. The study was performed in two groups (control and treated). The control group remained as untreated, and biofield treatment was given to treated group. The control and treated biphenyl were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Ultraviolet-visible (UV-Vis) spectroscopy and surface area analysis. The treated biphenyl showed decrease in intensity of XRD peaks as compared to control. Additionally, crystallite size was decreased in treated biphenyl by 16.82% with respect to control. The treated biphenyl (72.66ºC) showed increase in melting temperature as compared to control biphenyl (70.52ºC). However, the latent heat of fusion (∆H) of treated biphenyl was substantially changed by 18.75% as compared to control. Additionally, the treated biphenyl (155.14ºC) showed alteration in maximum thermal decomposition temperature (Tmax) as compared to control sample (160.97ºC). This showed the alteration in thermal stability of treated biphenyl as compared to control. Spectroscopic analysis (FT-IR and UV-visible) showed no alteration in chemical nature of treated biphenyl with respect to control. Surface area analysis through Brunauer-Emmett-Teller analysis (BET) analyzer showed significant alteration in surface area as compared to control. Overall, the result demonstrated that biofield has substantially affected the physical and thermal nature of biphenyl.

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Why is it important?

Biphenyl is an organic compound occurs naturally in coal tar, crude oil and natural gas and it is mainly isolated from these sources by distillation process. It’s a white crystalline compound with peculiar pleasant smell [1]. Biphenyl is mainly a neutral molecule however, it participates in a number of reactions similar like benzene such as substitution reaction upon treatment with halogens in the presence of Lewis acid. Biphenyl is an important compounds used as an intermediate for organic synthesis and they have insightful pharmacological activity. Biphenyl has been used for synthesis of wide range of compounds with diverse pharmaceutical applications [2] etc. For instance, biphenyl carboxylic benzimidazole derivative has excellent antihypertensive activity [3]. Additionally, biphenyl-4-carboxylic acid 2-(aryl)-4-oxo-thiazolidin-3-yl–amide was designed and studied for its antimicrobial activity [4]. However, the biphenyl has low reactivity due to lack of functional groups [2] hence, it should be modified in order to improve its reaction kinetics. Recently Chaudhary et. al., showed that crystallite size reduction due to ball milling may have significant influence on improving reaction kinetics [5]. The other strategies were grain size reduction and catalyst addition [6-10]. Recently biofield treatment was used as a potential strategy to modify the physical and thermal properties of various metals. Hence, authors are keen to investigate the influence of biofield treatment on biphenyl in order to modulate its physical and thermal properties that can improve its reactivity. Researchers have experimentally demonstrated the presence of electromagnetic field around the human body using medical technologies such as electromyography, electrocardiography and electroencephalogram [11]. Additionally, it was shown that bioelectricity generated from heart, brain functions or due to the motion of charged particles such as protons, electrons, and ions in the human body [12]. Thus, the human body emits the electromagnetic waves in form of bio-photons, which surrounds the body, which is commonly known as biofield. Therefore, a human has the ability to harness the energy from environment/Universe and can transmit into any object (living or non-living) around the Globe. The object(s) always receive the energy and respond into useful way that is called biofield energy and this process is known as biofield treatment. Mr. Trivedi’s biofield treatment is known to alter the characteristics of many things in various research fields such as, material science [13-15], agriculture [16-18] and biotechnology [19]. Biofield treatment has shown excellent results in improving the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern, and alteration of biochemical reactions, as well as induced alterations in characteristics of pathogenic microbes [20-22]. Exposure to biofield treatment caused paramount increase in medicinal property, growth, and anatomical characteristics of ashwagandha [23]. By considering the above-mentioned excellent results outcome from biofield treatment and pharmaceutical significance of biphenyl, this study was undertaken to investigate the impact of biofield on physicochemical properties of these compounds.

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