BUFFER SOLUTION

What Is a Buffer Solution?

The buffer solution is a solution able to maintain its hydrogen ion
concentration (pH) with only minor changes in the dilution or
addition of a small amount of either acid or base. Buffer solutions
are used in fermentation, food preservatives, drug delivery,
electroplating, printing and the activity of enzymes, and the blood
oxygen-carrying capacity needs specific hydrogen ion
concentration (pH).
Solutions of a weak acid and its conjugate base or weak base and
its conjugate acid are able to maintain pH and are buffer
solutions.

Types of Buffer Solutions

The two primary types into which buffer solutions are broadly
classified are acidic and alkaline buffers.

Acidic Buffers
As the name suggests, these solutions are used to maintain
acidic environments. Acid buffer has acidic pH and is prepared by
mixing a weak acid and its salt with a strong base. An
aqueous solution of an equal concentration of acetic acid and
sodium acetate has a pH of 4.74.

 The pH of these solutions is below seven.

 These solutions consist of a weak acid and a salt of a weak
acid.
 An example of an acidic buffer solution is a mixture of
sodium acetate and acetic acid (pH = 4.75).
Alkaline Buffers
These buffer solutions are used to maintain basic conditions. A
basic buffer has a basic pH and is prepared by mixing a weak
base and its salt with strong acid. The aqueous solution of an
equal concentration of ammonium hydroxide and ammonium
chloride has a pH of 9.25.

 The pH of these solutions is above seven.

 They contain a weak base and a salt of the weak base.
 An example of an alkaline buffer solution is a mixture of
ammonium hydroxide and ammonium chloride (pH = 9.25).

Mechanism of a Buffering Action

In solution, the salt is completely ionised, and the weak acid is
partly ionised.

CH3COONa ⇌ Na+ + CH3COO–

CH3COOH ⇌ H+ + CH3COO–


On Addition of Acid and Base

1. On addition of acid, the released protons of acid will be
removed by the acetate ions to form an acetic acid molecule.
H+ + CH3COO– (from added acid) ⇌ CH3COOH (from buffer
solution)
2. On addition of the base, the hydroxide released by the base will
be removed by the hydrogen ions to form water.
HO– + H+ (from added base) ⇌ H2O (from buffer solution)

Preparation of a Buffer Solution

If the dissociation constant of the acid (pK a) and of the base (pKb)
is known, a buffer solution can be prepared by controlling the salt-
acid or the salt-base ratio.
As discussed earlier, these solutions are prepared by mixing the
weak bases with their corresponding conjugate acids or by mixing
weak acids with their corresponding conjugate bases.
An example of this method of preparing buffer solutions can be
given by the preparation of a phosphate buffer by mixing
HPO42- and H2PO4-. The pH maintained by this solution is 7.4.

pH Maintenance
In order to understand how buffer solutions maintain a constant
pH, let us consider the example of a buffer solution containing
sodium acetate and acetic acid.
In this example, it can be noted that the sodium acetate almost
completely undergoes ionisation, whereas the acetic acid is only
weakly ionised. These equilibrium reactions can be written as

CH3COOH ⇌ H+ + CH3COO–
 CH3COONa ⇌ Na + CH3COO

+ –

When strong acids are added, the H+ ions combine with the
CH3COO– ions to give a weakly ionised acetic acid, resulting in a
negligible change in the pH of the environment.
When strongly alkaline substances are introduced to this buffer
solution, the hydroxide ions react with the acids which are free in
the solution to yield water molecules, as shown in the reaction
given below.
CH3COOH + OH– ⇌ CH3COO– + H2O
Therefore, the hydroxide ions react with the acid to form water,
and the pH remains the same.
 APPLICATION OF BUFFER
SOLUTION
Role of buffer solutions in pharmacy
 Solubility
 Colour
 Stability of Compounds
 Patient comfort
 Optimizing biological activity
 Analytical laborat

Solubility
 A controlled pH medium is helpful in controlling the
solubility of compounds.
 For example, in acidic medium, solubility of different
compounds (inorganic
salts of Fe+3, phosphates and borates) is increased; but
these inorganic salts
precipitate in alkaline media.
 Likewise, there are many organic compounds which are
insoluble in acidic
medium but are soluble in alkaline pH, e.g., alkaloids and
amines are soluble
in acidic solutions and insoluble in solutions of basic pH.
  Thus, pH plays an important role in solubility behaviour
of comp ounds. The
 required pH is adjusted by buffersory
Colour
 The pH of a solution is known to affect the colour of
many natural dyes,
present in fluid extract or of synthetic drugs. This
property of colour changing
at different pH values is used in identification of various
compounds. e.g. red
colour of cherry and rasbery syrup has been maintained
at acidic pH which becomes pale yellow to nearly
colourless at alkaline pH.
 The colour of synthetic compounds like
phenolphthalein,phenolsulphonaphthalein has also pH
dependent.
Stability of compounds
 Because of hydrolysis, many compounds are unstable
in aqueous solutions.
These solutions can be stabilized by regulating the pH.
 Ascorbic acid and penicillin are unstable in an alkaline
pH
 Sodium thiosulphate and sodium polysulphide
preparations have to be stored
at alkaline conditions to prevent separation of sulphur.
 Nitriles become brown in acid media because of
formation of coloured
nitrogen oxides.
 The normal salts or acid salts of carbonates and
sulphites at acidic medium
liberate carbon dioxide and sulphur dioxide respectively.
So they could not be
maintained at acid pH.
Patient comfort
 Injectables and preparations for external and internal
use become irritating if
their pH is different from the normal for the particular
tissue involved. An
extremely acid or alkaline pH must be avoided because
of tissue damage.
 In case of parental preparations, pH should be
considered carefully and the ideal
pH is 7.4, which is pH of blood. The most commonly used
buffers in parenteral
products are acetate, phosphate, citrate and glutamate.
 In ophthalmic preparations, buffers are generally used
to maintain pH with the
physiological range of lacrimal fluid (eye fluid). The
lacrimal fluid has a pH range
7-8, but it has good buffering capacity and can tolerate
preparations having pH
values between 3.5-10.5 with little discomfort. Outside
this range (3.5-10.5),
increases lacrimation may occur with other
complications. The buffering agents
used in ophthalmic preparations include borate,
carbonate and phosphates.
 In topical products (used in skin) such as ointments
and creams are also buffered
to ensure stability to the formulation. The most
commonly used buffers in
ointments and creams are citric acid/ its salts and
phosphoric acid/ its salts.
Optimizing biological activity
 Optimum pH conditions for activity of medicinal
compounds have to be
maintained.
e.g -1. Sodium dihydrogen phosphate is used to buffer
methenamine solution.
2. Lower pH of sodium hypochlorite usually improves the
germicidal
efficiency of the preparation.
 Enzymes contain most activity only on certain pH
values. For example, at pH
1.5, there is a maximum activity of pepsin.
Analytical laboratory
 In analytical laboratory, the buffers of known pH for
use as standards are
used frequently.
 Calliberation of pH meter and preparation of indicator
colour standards need
accurately known buffer solutions.