PH-induced nanosegregation of ritonavir to lyotropic liquid crystal of higher solubility than crystalline polymorphs

Autor: Alison Acciacca, David Fleisher, Barbara Rodríguez-Spong, Naír Rodríguez-Hornedo
Rok vydání: 2009
Předmět:
Zdroj: Molecular pharmaceutics. 5(6)
ISSN: 1543-8384
Popis: Birefringent spherical vesicles of ritonavir (RTV) are formed by increasing the pH of aqueous solutions from 1 to 3 or to 7 and by addition of water to ethanol solutions at room temperature. Increasing the pH creates supersaturation levels of 30-400. Upon this change in pH, the solutions become translucent, implying that some kind of RTV assembly was formed. Small spherical vesicles of narrow size distribution are detectable only after a few hours by optical microscopy. The vesicles show similar X-ray diffraction patterns and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) behavior to amorphous RTV prepared by melt-quenching crystalline RTV. Examination by polarized optical microscopy suggests that these are lyotropic liquid crystalline (LLC) assemblies. Small-angle X-ray scattering and synchrotron X-ray diffraction further support the presence of orientational order that is associated with a nematic structure. RTV self-organizes into various phases as a result of the supersaturation created in aqueous solutions. The LLC vesicles do not fuse but slowly transform to the polymorphs of RTV (in days), Form I and finally Form II. Amorphous RTV in aqueous suspension also undergoes a transformation to a mesophase of similar morphology. Transformation pathways are consistent with measured dissolution rates and solubilities: amorphous > LLC >> Form I > Form II. The dissolution and solubility of LLC is slightly lower than that of the amorphous phase and about 20 times higher than that of Form II. RTV also self-assembles at the air/water interface as indicated by the decrease in surface tension of aqueous solutions. This behavior is similar to that of amphiphilic molecules that induce LLC formation.
Databáze: OpenAIRE