Micronization of the natural pigment-bixin by the SEDS process through prefilming atomization

Technologies for Solubility, Dissolution and Permeation Enhancement of Natural Compounds

The current review is based on the advancements in the field of natural therapeutic agents which could be utilized for a variety of biomedical applications and against various diseases and ailments. In addition, several obstacles have to be circumvented to achieve the desired therapeutic effectiveness, among which limited dissolution and/or solubility and permeability are included. To counteract these issues, several advancements in the field of natural therapeutic substances needed to be addressed. Therefore, in this review, the possible techniques for the dissolution/solubility and permeability improvements have been addressed which could enhance the dissolution and permeability up to several times. In addition, the conventional and modern isolation and purification techniques have been emphasized to achieve the isolation and purification of single or multiple therapeutic constituents with convenience and smarter approaches. Moreover, a brief overview of advanced natural compounds with multiple therapeutic effectiveness have also been anticipated. In brief, enough advancements have been carried out to achieve safe, effective and economic use of natural medicinal agents with improved stability, handling and storage.

Supercritical fluid (SCF)-assisted fabrication of carrier-free drugs: An eco-friendly welcome to active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)

Despite the success in developing various pharmaceutical formulations, most of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs)/drugs, according to the Biopharmaceutics Classification System (BCS), often suffer from various intrinsic limitations of solubility and permeability, substantially hindering their bioavailability in vivo. Regardless of the fact that the availability of different particle fabrication approaches (top-down and bottom-up) towards pharmaceutical manufacturing, the supercritical fluid (SCF) technology has emerged as one of the highly effective substitutes due to the environmentally benign nature and processing convenience, as well as the economically promising character of SCFs. The exceptional features of SCFs have endowed the fabrication of various APIs either solely or in combination with the compatible supramolecular species towards achieving improved drug delivery. Operating such APIs in high-pressure conditions often results in arbitrary-sized particulate forms, ranging from micron-sized to sub-micron/nano-sized particles. Comparatively, these SCF-processed particles offer enhanced tailorable physicochemical and morphological properties (size, shape, and surface), as well as improved performance efficacy (bioavailability and therapy) over the unprocessed APIs. Although the "carrier-based" delivery is practical among diverse delivery systems, the direct fabrication of APIs into suitable particulate forms, referred to as "carrier-free" delivery, has increased attention towards improving the bioavailability and conveying a high payload of the APIs. This review gives a comprehensive emphasis on the SCF-assisted fabrication of diverse APIs towards exploring their great potential in drug delivery. Initially, we discuss various challenges of drug delivery and particle fabrication approaches. Further, different supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂)-based fabrication approaches depending on the character of SCFs are explicitly described, highlighting their advantages and suitability in processing diverse APIs. Then, we provide detailed insights on various processing factors affecting the properties and morphology of SCF-processed APIs and their pharmaceutical applications, emphasizing their performance efficacy when administered through multiple routes of administration. Finally, we summarize this compilation with exciting perspectives based on the lessons learned so far and moving forward in terms of challenges and opportunities in the scale-up and clinical translation of these drugs using this innovative technology.

Silk fibroin-based nanoparticles for drug delivery

Silk fibroin (SF) is a protein-based biomacromolecule with excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and low immunogenicity. The development of SF-based nanoparticles for drug delivery have received considerable attention due to high binding capacity for various drugs, controlled drug release properties and mild preparation conditions. By adjusting the particle size, the chemical structure and properties, the modified or recombinant SF-based nanoparticles can be designed to improve the therapeutic efficiency of drugs encapsulated into these nanoparticles. Therefore, they can be used to deliver small molecule drugs (e.g., anti-cancer drugs), protein and growth factor drugs, gene drugs, etc. This paper reviews recent progress on SF-based nanoparticles, including chemical structure, properties, and preparation methods. In addition, the applications of SF-based nanoparticles as carriers for therapeutic drugs are also reviewed.

Prefilming twin-fluid nozzle assisted precipitation method for preparing nanocrystalline HNS and its characterization

The ultra-fine HNS (2,2',4,4',6,6'-hexanitrostilbene) with desired properties is needed for military and civilian applications because of its reliable threshold energy to short impulse shock waves and its excellent thermal and shock stability. This paper reports on prefilming twin-fluid nozzle assisted precipitation (PTFN-P) to obtain ultra-fine HNS explosive with high specific surface area (SSA), high purity, and narrow particle size distribution. The properties of ultra-fine HNS have been confirmed by SEM, BET, HPLC, XRD, DSC and TGA-SDTA. SEM photograph revealed that the PTFN-P process offers ellipsoid crystalline morphology with particle size of 90-150 nm. The BET and Langmuir SSA of nanocrystalline HNS with purity of 99.44 wt.% were determined to be 19.28 m(2)/g and 29.26 m(2)/g, respectively. The XRD peaks of nanocrystalline HNS seemed to have similar diffraction angles as those of synthesized HNS, and the weakening of peak strength was observed apparently. DSC results of the nanocrystalline HNS showed that the exothermic decomposing at the temperature range of 323-398 degrees C. Furthermore, HNS samples were submitted to impact and small scale gap test and the results indicated that nanocrystalline HNS is less sensitive than synthesized HNS (50 microm) to impact and shock stimuli.