Surface Tension/Contact Angle Characters of Aprotic Binary Borneol-Dimethyl Sulphoxide Mixture

Abstract

Borneol and dimethyl sulphoxide (DMSO) have been used as the skin penetration enhancers. Different concentrated borneol solutions in aprotic DMSO were prepared as the binary mixtures and determined their surface tension and contact angle behaviors using goniometer. Low borneol concentration minimized the surface tension and there was nearly stable contact angle for 30-70% borneol solutions. The trend contact angle value was decreased on glass slide, acrylic and LDPE whereas increasing on agarose gel and porcine tissues including buccal mucosa, gum and tongue with borneol concentration dependence. However, the borneol-DMSO binary mixture exhibited high wettability owing to its contact angle on glass surface was less than 90°. The solvent exchange between DMSO of borneol solutions and aqueous phase form agarose gel and porcine tissues including tongue, gum and buccal mucosa initiated the phase transformation from solution into matrix-like and promoted the higher contact angle with borneol concentration dependence. The understanding of surface tension and contact angle behaviors of aprotic borneol-DMSO binary mixture is useful for developing them into in situ forming gel for drug delivery such as in the oral cavity.