Does the molecular mobility and flexibility of the saccharide ring affect the glass-forming ability of naproxen in binary mixtures?

The impact of the size of acetylated cyclodextrin on the stability of amorphous metronidazole

Modified oligosaccharides with cyclic topology seem to be promising excipients for the preparation of Amorphous Solid Dispersions (ASDs), especially with those Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs), which have a strong crystallization tendency from the amorphous/glassy state. Herein, the usefulness of two acetylated cyclodextrins (ac-α-CD and ac-β-CD) with various molecular weights (M_w) as stabilizers for the supercooled metronidazole (Met) has been discussed. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies carried out on Met-acCDs mixtures (prepared in molar ratios from 1:2 to 5:1) showed that the system with ac-α-CD containing the highest amount of API (5:1 m/m) crystallizes immediately after preparation, whereas all Met-ac-β-CD ASDs remain stable. What is more, long-term XRD measurements confirmed that the Met-ac-α-CD 2:1 m/m system crystallizes after 100 days of storage in contrast to the same system containing ac-β-CD. The non-isothermal calorimetric data revealed that the activation barrier for crystallization (E_cr) in ASDs with the oligosaccharide having a greater M_w (i.e., composed of seven acGLU molecules) is slightly higher. Finally, to explain the differences in behavior between the mixtures with both acCDs, infrared studies, DFT calculations and Molecular Dynamics simulations were performed. All methods excluded the scenario of API incorporation inside the acCDs' core. On the other hand, obtained results suggested that in comparison to ac-α-CD, the greater amount of Met molecules might be bounded on the outside surface of ac-β-CD. Therefore, this modified saccharide is a better stabilizer of the examined API.

Deaggregation and Crystallization Inhibition by Small Amount of Polymer Addition for a Co-Amorphous Curcumin-Magnolol System

Different from previously reported co-amorphous systems, a co-amorphous curcumin-magnolol (CUR-MAG CM) system, as compared with its crystalline counterparts, exhibited decreased dissolution due to its aggregation during dissolution. The main purpose of the present study is to deaggregate CUR-MAG CM to optimize drug dissolution and explore the deaggregation mechanism involved. Herein, a small amount of polymer (HPMC, HPC, and PVP K30) was co-formulated at 5% (w/w) with CUR-MAG CM as ternary co-amorphous systems. The polymer addition changed the surface properties of CUR-MAG CM including improved water wettability enhanced surface free energy, and hence exerted a deaggregating effect. As a result, the ternary co-amorphous systems showed faster and higher dissolution as compared with crystalline CUR/MAG and CUR-MAG CM. In addition, the nucleation and crystal growth of dissolved CUR and MAG molecules were significantly inhibited by the added polymer, maintaining a supersaturated concentration for a long time. Furthermore, polymer addition increased the T_g of CUR-MAG CM, potentially involving molecular interactions and inhibiting molecular mobility, resulting in enhanced physical stability under 25 °C/60% RH and 40 °C/75% RH conditions. Therefore, this study provides a promising strategy to optimize the dissolution and physical stability of co-amorphous systems by deaggregation and crystallization inhibition via adding small amounts of polymers.

Influence of the Internal Structure and Intermolecular Interactions on the Correlation between Structural (α) and Secondary (β-JG) Relaxation below the Glass Transition Temperature in Neat Probucol and Its Binary Mixtures with Modified Saccharides

Broadband dielectric spectroscopy (BDS) has been used to study the molecular dynamics and aging process in neat probucol (PRO) as well as its binary mixtures with selected acetylated saccharides. In particular, we applied the Casalini and Roland approach to determine structural relaxation times in the glassy state of the examined systems (so-called isostructural times, τ_iso). Next, using the calculated τ_iso, primitive relaxation times of the coupling model were obtained and compared to the experimental secondary β (Johari-Goldstein (JG) type) relaxation times. Interestingly, it turned out that there is a correlation between the β-JG and the structural (α)-relaxation processes below the glass transition temperature (T < T_g) in each investigated sample. This is a new observation compared to previous studies demonstrating that such a relationship exists only in the supercooled liquid state of neat PRO. Moreover, it was revealed that the stretching parameters obtained from the aging procedure are very close to the ones determined by fitting the dielectric data above the T_g with the use of the Kohlrausch-Williams-Watts function, indicating that the aging process is governed by the α-relaxation. Complementary Fourier transform infrared and X-ray diffraction measurements allowed us to find a possible reason for these findings. It was demonstrated that although there are very weak intermolecular interactions between PRO and modified saccharides, the intra- and intermolecular structure of PRO is practically unaffected by the presence of modified saccharides.