Fractal analysis of sodium cholate particles.

A fractal analysis was carried out on the powder particles of two samples of sodium cholate. A commercial sample had very irregular particles agglomerated, and accordingly the fractal dimension of the surface was 2.98, suggesting a noteworthy roughness of the particle surface; scanning electron microscopy showed that this was due to irregularities caused by a disordered agglomeration of very small particles, resulting in larger particles showing polygonal and smooth but limited facets. A second sample was obtained by recrystallization from ethanol of the commercial sodium cholate and contained large and regular particles, with very smooth surfaces. The fractal dimension therefore was accordingly low. Despite these differences, the two samples had similar, high reactive dimension values to dissolution (2.96 and 2.76, respectively), suggesting that the surfactant behavior of sodium cholate is an important parameter in driving the dissolution of the solid particles and leveling the surface defects.