Interaction of nicotine with magnesium aluminum silicate at different pHs: characterization of flocculate size, zeta potential and nicotine adsorption behavior.

The purposes of this study were to prepare dispersions in various ratios of nicotine (NCT) and magnesium aluminum silicate (MAS) at different pHs and to investigate interaction of NCT with MAS by characterizing microscopic morphology, particle size and zeta potential of MAS-NCT flocculates. Moreover, the NCT adsorption onto MAS at different pHs were also investigated. At basic medium, incorporating NCT into MAS dispersion brought about a small decrease in the zeta potential of MAS, leading to a loose flocculate formation of MAS. This is likely to be due to an adsorption of unionized form of NCT onto MAS via intermolecular hydrogen bonding. The lower zeta potential, denser matrix structure and larger size of the flocculates was found at neutral and acidic media because the protonated species of NCT could interact with the negatively charged MAS by electrostatic force. In addition the flocculates formed at pH 4 possibly possessed a higher density than those formed at pH 7, suggesting that the diprotonated species of NCT at pH 4 caused stronger interaction with MAS. The adsorption isotherms of NCT onto MAS at different pHs can be described not only using the Langmuir model, but also using the Freundlich model. The higher affinity of NCT adsorption onto MAS at neutral and acidic media was found. However, the adsorption capacity to form NCT monolayer reduced with decreasing the pH of the dispersions because of an adsorption of hydronium ions and a decrease in surface area of adsorption site by flocculation. These findings suggested that the flocculation of MAS dispersion could be induced by incorporation of NCT. The characteristics, such as particle size and zeta potential, of the NCT-MAS flocculates and the adsorption isotherms of NCT onto MAS were depended upon pH of dispersion, in which the different charged species of NCT were formed.