The effect of urea on the corrosion behavior of different dental alloys.

Objective: Intraoral corrosion of dental alloys has biological, functional, and esthetic consequences. Since it is well known that the salivary urea concentrations undergo changes with various diseases, the present study was undertaken to determine the effect of salivary urea concentrations on the corrosion behavior of commonly used dental casting alloys. Materials and Methods: Three casting alloys were subjected to polarization scans in synthetic saliva with three different urea concentrations. Results: Cyclic polarization clearly showed that urea levels above 20 mg/100 ml decreased corrosion current densities, increased the corrosion potentials and, at much higher urea levels, the breakdown potentials. Conclusion: The data indicate that elevated urea levels reduced the corrosion susceptibility of all alloys, possibly through adsorption of organics onto the metal surface. This study indicates that corrosion testing performed in sterile saline or synthetic saliva without organic components could be misleading.

Electrochemical behavior and pH stability of artificial salivas for corrosion tests

It is assumed that the compositions of artificial salivas are similar to that of human saliva. However, the use of solutions with different compositions in in vitro corrosion studies can lead dissimilar electrolytes to exhibit dissimilar corrosivity and electrochemical stability. This study evaluated four artificial salivas as regards pH stability with time, redox potentials and the polarization response of an inert platinum electrode. The tested solutions were: SAGF medium, Mondelli artificial saliva, UFRJ artificial saliva (prepared at the School of Pharmacy, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil) and USP-RP artificial saliva (prepared at the School of Pharmaceutical Sciences of Ribeirão Preto, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil). It was observed that pH variations were less than 1 unit during a 50-hour test. The SAGF medium, and the UFRJ and USP-RP solutions exhibited more oxidizing characteristics, whereas the Mondelli solution presented reducing properties. Anodic polarization revealed oxidation of the evaluated electrolytes at potentials below +600 mV SCE. It was observed that the UFRJ and USP-RP solutions presented more intense oxidation and reduction processes as compared to the Mondelli and SAGF solutions.

Admite-se que as composições das salivas artificiais são semelhantes àquela da saliva humana. A utilização de soluções de composições distintas em estudos de corrosão in vitro, entretanto, pode fazer com que eletrólitos diferentes exibam diferenças no processo corrosivo e na estabilidade eletroquímica. Este estudo avaliou quatro salivas artificiais em relação a estabilidade do pH em função do tempo, potencial redox e resposta à polarização de um eletrodo de platina inerte. As soluções testadas foram: meio SAGF, saliva artificial Mondelli, saliva artificial UFRJ (preparada pela Faculdade de Farmácia da Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil) e saliva artificial USP-RP (preparada pela Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas de Ribeirão Preto, Universidade de São Paulo, SP, Brasil). Foi observado que as variações de pH foram menores que 1 unidade durante as 50 horas de ensaio. O meio SAGF e as soluções UFRJ e USP-RP exibiram características mais oxidantes, enquanto a solução Mondelli apresentou propriedades redutoras. A polarização anódica mostrou oxidação dos eletrólitos avaliados a potenciais inferiores a +600 mV ECS. Foi observado que as soluções UFRJ e USP-RP são mais facilmente oxidadas e reduzidas se comparadas com as soluções Mondelli e SAGF.

Thermal and spectroscopic characterization of Pd [II] and Pt [IV] thiobarbiturate complexes

Pd [II] and Pt [IV] thiobarbiturate complexes [Ligaud: 2-thiobarbituric acid; Abbreviation, HTBA] were synthesized as solid phases. Chemical and thermogravimetric analyses, together with IR and electronic absorption spectra of the ligand and the two complexes were carried out. IR vibrational bands support M-S and M-N bondings in the Pd [II] and Pt [IV] ions are tetra-and hexa-coordinated, as deduced from their electronic absorption bands characteristic of square planar and octahedral configurations, respectively. Results of thermogravimetric analysis were in agreement with the general molecular formulae: Pd [TBA]2 and Pt [TBA]4 [HTBA]2 proposed by chemical analysis. The TG and DTG curves of both the Pd [II] complex and the Pt [IV] complex showed three thermal dissociation steps ending with a final step at>790 and >772 omicron, respectively. The thermal stability of the studied compounds was found to have the order: Pt [TBA]4 [HTBA]2> HTBA>pd [TBA]2