Theoretical Analysis of Drug Dissolution in Micellar Media.

A new theoretical approach combining convective diffusion and surface dissolution kinetics has been applied to micellar systems and tested on experimental data available for both rotating disk apparatus and particles. The micelles are shown to be in the state of dynamic equilibrium with solution for most systems but nanoparticles. For ionizable molecules, the variation of partition coefficient across diffusion boundary layer may affect the diffusivity. The intrinsic dissolution rate is generally a nonlinear function of the equilibrium concentration, c0, in which the diffusion kinetic coefficient, ßD, surface kinetic coefficient, ß0, and total kinetic coefficient of dissolution, ß, all typically decrease as functions of c0 (or increasing micellar concentration, Mc). The observed absolute values of ß0 are usually in the order of 10-3-10-2 cm/s and strongly dependent on the nature of surfactant and solute molecules. For dissolution of particles, the surface kinetics tend to become the rate-limiting step.

Theoretical Analysis of Drug Dissolution: I. Solubility and Intrinsic Dissolution Rate.

The first-principles approach presented in this work combines surface kinetics and convective diffusion modeling applied to compounds with pH-dependent solubility and in different dissolution media. This analysis is based on experimental data available for approximately 100 compounds of pharmaceutical interest. Overall, there is a linear relationship between the drug solubility and intrinsic dissolution rate expressed through the total kinetic coefficient of dissolution and dimensionless numbers defining the mass transfer regime. The contribution of surface kinetics appears to be significant constituting on average ∼20% resistance to the dissolution flux in the compendial rotating disk apparatus at 100 rpm. The surface kinetics contribution becomes more dominant under conditions of fast laminar or turbulent flows or in cases when the surface kinetic coefficient may decrease as a function of solution composition or pH. Limitations of the well-known convective diffusion equation for rotating disk by Levich are examined using direct computational modeling with simultaneous dissociation and acid-base reactions in which intrinsic dissolution rate is strongly dependent on pH profile and solution ionic strength. It is shown that concept of diffusion boundary layer does not strictly apply for reacting/interacting species and that thin-film diffusion models cannot be used quantitatively in general case.

Lipid-based carriers for pulmonary products: preclinical development and case studies in humans.

A number of lipid-based technologies have been applied to pharmaceuticals to modify their drug release characteristics, and additionally, to improve the drug loading for poorly soluble drugs. These technologies, including solid-state lipid microparticles, many of which are porous in nature, liposomes, solid lipid nanoparticles and nanostructured lipid carriers, are increasingly being developed for inhalation applications. This article provides a review of the rationale for the use of these technologies in the pulmonary delivery of drugs, and summarizes the manufacturing processes and their limitations, the in vitro and in vivo performance of these systems, the safety of these lipid-based systems in the lung, and their promise for commercialization.

Influence of operating temperature and pressure on the polymorphic transition of salmeterol xinafoate in supercritical fluids.

Precipitation of pure polymorphic forms (I and II) of salmeterol xinafoate (SX) in supercritical fluids was investigated as a function of operating pressure and temperature. It has been shown that the formation of each polymorph is governed by both thermodynamic shift and kinetic effects, which are closely associated with the extent of miscibility between the supercritical CO(2) and methanol cosolvent. In addition, the surface energetics of SX exhibit a sharp discontinuity at the transition point in concordance with the particular polymorphic form generated, being essentially independent of the temperature or pressure below and above this point. The conditions of complete miscibility of the two solvent phases involved are critical for the formation of SX Form II.

Structure and drug release in a crosslinked poly(ethylene oxide) hydrogel.

Hydrogels are a continuously expanding class of pharmaceutical polymers designed for sustained or controlled drug release. The structure and intermolecular interactions in such systems define their macroscopic properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the mechanism of swelling, drug impregnation, and drug release from poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) gel crosslinked by urethane bonds. A combination of SAXS/WAXS/SANS techniques enabled us to determine the phase transition between lamellar and extended gel network, and to apply different descriptions of crystallinity, based on lamellar and crystal lattice structures. It is shown that even low (1-7% w/w) loading of model drugs acetaminophen and caffeine, produced significant disorder in the polymer matrix. This effect was particularly pronounced for acetaminophen due to its specific ability to form complexes with PEO. The drug-release profiles were analyzed using a general cubic equation, proposed for this work, which allowed us to determine the gel hydration velocity. The results indicate that the release profiles correlate inversely with the polymer crystallinity.

Particle engineering for pulmonary drug delivery.

With the rapidly growing popularity and sophistication of inhalation therapy, there is an increasing demand for tailor-made inhalable drug particles capable of affording the most efficient delivery to the lungs and the most optimal therapeutic outcomes. To cope with this formulation demand, a wide variety of novel particle technologies have emerged over the past decade. The present review is intended to provide a critical account of the current goals and technologies of particle engineering for the development of pulmonary drug delivery systems. These technologies cover traditional micronization and powder blending, controlled solvent crystallization, spray drying, spray freeze drying, particle formation from liquid dispersion systems, supercritical fluid processing and particle coating. The merits and limitations of these technologies are discussed with reference to their applications to specific drug and/or excipient materials. The regulatory requirements applicable to particulate inhalation products are also reviewed briefly.

Particle size analysis in pharmaceutics: principles, methods and applications.

Physicochemical and biopharmaceutical properties of drug substances and dosage forms can be highly affected by the particle size, a critical process parameter in pharmaceutical production. The fundamental issue with particle size analysis is the variety of equivalent particle diameters generated by different methods, which is largely ascribable to the particle shape and particle dispersion mechanism involved. Thus, to enable selection of the most appropriate or optimal sizing technique, cross-correlation between different techniques may be required. This review offers an in-depth discussion on particle size analysis pertaining to specific pharmaceutical applications and regulatory aspects, fundamental principles and terminology, instrumentation types, data presentation and interpretation, in-line and process analytical technology. For illustration purposes, special consideration is given to the analysis of aerosols using time-of-flight and cascade impactor measurements, which is supported by a computational analysis conducted for this review.

Predicting the aerosol performance of dry powder inhalation formulations by interparticulate interaction analysis using inverse gas chromatography.

Previous studies have demonstrated the utility of inverse gas chromatography (IGC) in discriminating the differences in surface energy between salmeterol xinafoate (SX) powders prepared by conventional sequential batch crystallization and micronization and by supercritical fluid crystallization. In the present study, solubility parameters derived from IGC analysis at infinite dilution (zero coverage) were further utilized to evaluate the influence of solid-solid interactions on the in vitro aerosol performance of these SX samples, with or without the inclusion of a lactose carrier. To this end, the strength of cohesive SX-SX interactions and that of adhesive SX-lactose interactions were computed for the samples from the corresponding solubility parameters, and their fine particle fractions determined using a multi-stage liquid impinger. It was found that the aerosol performance of SX could be substantially improved by the addition of lactose carrier only if the adhesive SX-lactose interactions were stronger than the cohesive SX-SX interactions. The difference in strength between these two forms of interactions also displayed a significant correlation with the increase in fine particle fraction after the addition of lactose carrier. These results suggest that IGC-based interparticulate interaction measurements may serve as a useful means for predicting the aerosol performance of dry powder inhalation formulations.

Nanoparticles of poorly water-soluble drugs prepared by supercritical fluid extraction of emulsions.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to develop and evaluate a new method for the production of micro- and nanoparticles of poorly soluble drugs for drug delivery applications. METHODS: Fine particles of model compounds cholesterol acetate (CA), griseofulvin (GF), and megestrol acetate (MA) were produced by extraction of the internal phase of oil-in-water emulsions using supercritical carbon dioxide. The particles were obtained both in a batch or a continuous manner in the form of aqueous nanosuspensions. Precipitation of CA nanoparticles was used for conducting a mechanistic study on particle size control and scale-up. GF and MA nanoparticles were produced in several batches to compare their dissolution behavior with that of micronized materials. The physical analysis of the particles produced was performed using dynamic light scattering (particle size), scanning electron microscopy (morphology), powder X-ray diffraction (crystallinity), gas chromatography (residual solvent), and a dissolution apparatus. RESULTS: Particles with mean volume diameter ranging between 100 and 1000 nm were consistently produced. The emulsion droplet size, drug solution concentration, and organic solvent content in the emulsion were the major parameters responsible for particle size control. Efficient and fast extraction, down to low parts-per-million levels, was achieved with supercritical CO2. The GF and MA nanoparticles produced were crystalline in nature and exhibited a 5- to 10-fold increase in the dissolution rate compared with that of micronized powders. Theoretical calculations indicated that this dissolution was governed mainly by the surface kinetic coefficient and the specific surface area of the particles produced. It was observed that the necessary condition for a reliable and scalable process was the sufficient emulsion stability during the extraction time. CONCLUSION: The method developed offers a viable alternative to both the milling and constructive nanoparticle formation processes. Although preparation of a stable emulsion can be a challenge for some drug molecules, the new technique significantly shortens the processing time and overcomes the current limitations of the conventional precipitation techniques in terms of large waste streams, product purity, and process scale-up.

Effect of amino acids on the dispersion of disodium cromoglycate powders.

Modified disodium cromoglycate powders were prepared by co-spray drying with different concentrations of leucine, phenylalanine, tryptophan, methionine, asparagine, and arginine. Amorphous spherical particles of the same size and density where obtained which, however, exhibited different surface properties as measured by the inverse gas chromatography (IGC) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) techniques. The surface energy parameters, such as the dispersive component of surface free energy of the sample, gammaSD, and the total solubility parameter, delta, were significantly lower in the presence of nonpolar chain amino acids, particularly with leucine and phenylalanine, than pure DSCG. However no quantitative relationship between these parameters, the additive concentrations, and the fine particle fractions, FPF, determined for different inhalers and air flow rates, was observed. The FPF significantly increased with addition of leucine and this effect was attributed to reduced intermolecular interactions between leucine and disodium cromoglycate molecules, as indicated by the difference in corresponding Hansen solubility parameters. Decrease of interparticle interactions for leucine-containing powders also led to a lesser dependence of FPF on the flow rate and inhaler type.

An improved thermoanalytical approach to quantifying trace levels of polymorphic impurity in drug powders.

Accurate quantification of impurities existing as separate crystalline phases at trace levels in drug materials is an important issue in the pharmaceutical industry. In the present study, a thermoanalytical approach previously developed for quantifying trace levels of polymorphic impurity (form II metastable nuclei) in commercial salmeterol xinafoate powders has been successfully applied with slight modifications to ribavirin, an antiviral drug exhibiting roughly similar polymorph-dependent crystallization kinetics in melts to that of salmeterol xinafoate. Essentially, the approach involved modeling of the crystallization kinetics of both tested and reference drug materials in melts using the Avrami-Erofe'ev (AE) rate expression, derivation of a mathematical equation for relating the AE kinetic constant to the composition of reference polymorph mixtures, and the use of this derived equation (in the form of a calibration curve) to calculate the impurity contents of the tested samples from their computed AE constants. For ribavirin, modification of the latter equation by incorporation of an empirical exponent was found necessary to account for the composition-dependent changes in crystallization kinetics of the reference mixtures. Such modification has made possible the determination of polymorphic impurity content of as low as 0.004% (w/w) in ribavirin samples induced by different forms of grinding treatment.

Surface characterization of salmeterol xinafoate powders by inverse gas chromatography at finite coverage.

In our previous studies, surface analysis by inverse gas chromatography (IGC) at infinite dilution (zero coverage) was performed on four salmeterol xinafoate (SX) powdered samples, viz, two supercritical CO2-processed Form I (SX-I) and Form II (SX-II) polymorphs, a commercial granulated SX (GSX) raw material and its micronized product (MSX). Both GSX and MSX are also of the same Form I polymorph. To further probe the differences in surface properties between the samples, the present study has extended the IGC analysis to the finite concentration range of selected energy probes. The adsorption isotherms of the SX samples were constructed using (nonpolar) octane, (polar acidic) chloroform, and (polar basic) tetrahydrofuran as liquid probes. Type II adsorption isotherms with weak knees were observed with each probe for all SX Form I samples. The extents of probe adsorption by the samples at various relative pressures follow the rank order: SX-II > GSX approximately MSX > SX-I, indicating that the SX-I has fewer high-energy adsorption sites than GSX and MSX. Type III isotherms were observed for SX-II with the two polar probes, indicative of weak adsorbate-adsorbent interactions. The additional information generated shows that IGC analysis at finite coverage is a valuable complementary tool to that at infinite dilution.

Optimisation of powders for pulmonary delivery using supercritical fluid technology.

Supercritical fluid technology exploited in this work afforded single-step production of respirable particles of terbutaline sulphate (TBS). Different crystal forms of TBS were produced consistently, including two polymorphs, a stoichiometric monohydrate and amorphous material as well as particles with different degrees of crystallinity, size, and morphology. Different solid-state and surface characterisation techniques were applied in conjunction with measurements of powder flow properties using AeroFlow device and aerosol performance by Andersen Cascade Impactor tests. Improved fine particle fraction (FPF) was demonstrated for some powders produced by the SCF process when compared to the micronised material. Such enhanced flow properties and dispersion correlated well with the reduced surface energy parameters demonstrated by these powders. It is shown that semi-crystalline particles exhibited lower specific surface energy leading to a better performance in the powder flow and aerosol tests than crystalline materials. This difference of the surface and bulk crystal structure for selected powder batches is explained by the mechanism of precipitation in SCF which can lead to surface conditioning of particles produced.

Thermal analysis of trace levels of polymorphic impurity in salmeterol xinafoate samples.

PURPOSE: To quantify trace levels of polymorphic impurity in two salmeterol xinafoate (SX) Form I samples: granular SX (GSX) produced by fast-cooling crystallization and micronized SX (MSX) prepared from GSX by micronization. METHODS: SX-I and SX-II produced by solution enhanced dispersion by supercritical fluids (SEDS) were the reference polymorphs (100% pure) used for quantitative comparison. The percentage of polymorphic conversion, alpha, of each Form I sample to Form II was measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) as a function of time (i.e., at different scanning speeds). The data were analyzed by the Avrami-Erofe'ev (AE) equation using an iterative fitting computer program. SX-I samples containing 1.24, 4.41, and 13.47% (w/w) of SX-II as physical mixtures were subjected to similar analysis and data treatment. A mathematical relationship based on an instantaneous nucleation model was derived to relate the AE rate constants, k, of pure SX-I and physical mixtures to weight percentage of SX-II. This relationship was then used to calculate the percentage polymorphic impurity of GSX and MSX from their k values. For relative comparison of the Form-II nuclei present, the k values of SX-I, GSX, and MSX were used to calculate their differences in free energy of nucleation. RESULTS: The AE equation affords good (r2 approximately equal to 0.81) to excellent (r2 approximately equal to 0.99) fits of data for the samples. The levels of polymorphic impurity in GSX and MSX are 0.16 and 0.62% (w/w), respectively. Based on the free energy differences of nucleation between the reference SX-I material and the other samples, the number (and size) of the Form II nuclei present in the samples rank in the order: MSX > GSX > SX-I. CONCLUSIONS: DSC is a useful tool for assessing the polymorphic purity of SX materials and possibly other enantiotropic pairs showing similar thermal behavior.

Amplitude and phase microscopy for sizing of spherical particles.

We describe a numerical vector diffraction model based on Mie theory that describes the imaging of spherical particles by bright-field, confocal, and interferometric microscopes. The model correctly scales the amplitude-scattered field relative to the incident field so that the forward-scattered and incident light can be interfered to correctly model imaging with copolarization transmission microscopes for the first time to our knowledge. The model is used to demonstrate that amplitude and phase imaging with an interferometric microscope allows subwavelength particle sizing. Furthermore, we show that the phase channel allows much smaller particles to be sized than amplitude-only measurements. The model is validated by experimental measurements.

Influence of polymorphism on the surface energetics of salmeterol xinafoate crystallized from supercritical fluids.

PURPOSE: To characterize the surface thermodynamic properties of two polymorphic forms (I and II) of salmeterol xinafoate (SX) prepared from supercritical fluids and a commercial micronized SX (form 1) sample (MSX). METHODS: Inverse gas chromatographic analysis was conducted on the SX samples at 30, 40, 50, and 60 degrees C using the following probes at infinite dilution: nonpolar probes (NPs; alkane C5-C9 series); and polar probes (PPs; i.e., dichloromethane, chloroform, acetone, ethyl acetate, diethyl ether, and tetrahydrofuran). Surface thermodynamic parameters of adsorption and Hansen solubility parameters were calculated from the retention times of the probes. RESULTS: The free energies of adsorption (- deltaG(A)) of the three samples obtained at various temperatures follow this order: SX-II > MSX approximately/= SX-I for the NPs; and SX-II > MSX > SX-I for the PPs. For both NPs and PPs, SX-II exhibits a less negative enthalpy of adsorption (deltaH(A)) and a much less negative entropy of adsorption (ASA) than MSX and SX-I, suggesting that the high -AGA of SX-II is contributed by a considerably reduced entropy loss. The dispersive component of surface free energy (gammas(D)) is the highest for MSX but the lowest for SX-II at all temperatures studied, whereas the specific component of surface free energy of adsorption (-deltaG(A)SP) is higher for SX-II than for SX-I. That SX-II displays the highest -deltaG(A) for the NP but the lowest gammasD of all the SX samples may be explained by the additional -AGA change associated with an increased mobility of the probe molecules on the less stable and more disordered SX-II surface. The acid and base parameters, K(A) and K(D) that were derived from deltaH(A)SP reveal significant differences in the relative acid and base properties among the samples. The calculated Hansen solubility parameters (deltaD, deltap, and deltaH) indicate that the surface of SX-II is the most polar and most energetic of all the three samples in terms of specific interactions (mostly hydrogen bonding). CONCLUSIONS: The metastable SX-II polymorph possesses a higher surface free energy, higher surface entropy, and a more polar surface than the stable SX-I polymorph.

Solubility prediction in supercritical CO(2) using minimum number of experiments.

The correlation ability and solubility prediction in supercritical carbon dioxide of a proposed equation were studied. The work involved the solubilities of nicotinic acid and p-acetoxyacetanilide in supercritical carbon dioxide using a dynamic flow solubility system at 35-75 degrees C and 100-200 bar. The generated experimental solubility data together with 21 data sets collected from the literature were used to evaluate the correlation ability of available empirical equations. The average absolute relative deviations (AARD) for the empirical equations are 12.6-24.8%. The prediction capability of the modified empirical relationship was studied with six experimental data points as a training set. Then, solubility at other temperatures and pressures were predicted. The AARD between predicted solubilities and observed values is 17%.