Solubility of drugs in aqueous solutions. Part 4. Drug solubility by the dilute approximation

As in our previous publications in this journal [Int. J. Pharm. 258 (2003a) 193; Int. J. Pharm. 260 (2003b) 283; Int. J. Pharm. 267 (2003c) 121], this paper is concerned with the solubility of poorly soluble drugs in aqueous mixed solvents. In the previous publications, the solubilities of drugs were assumed to be low enough for the so-called infinite dilution approximation to be applicable. In contrast, in the present paper, the solubilities are considered to be finite and the dilute solution approximation is employed. As before, the fluctuation theory of solutions is used to express the derivatives of the activity coefficient of a solute in a ternary solution (dilute solute concentrations in a binary solvent) with respect to the concentrations of the solvent and cosolvent. The expressions obtained are combined with a theoretical equation for the activity coefficient of the solute. As a result, the activity coefficient of the solute was expressed through the activity coefficients of the solute at infinite dilution, solute mole fraction, some properties of the binary solvent (composition, molar volume and activity coefficients of the components) and parameters reflecting the nonidealities of binary species. The expression thus obtained was used to derive an equation for the solubility of poorly soluble drugs in aqueous binary solvents which was applied in two different ways. First, the nonideality parameters were considered as adjustable parameters, determined from experimental solubility data. Second, the obtained equation was used to correct the solubilities of drugs calculated via the infinite dilution approximation. It was shown that both procedures provide accurate correlations for the drug solubility.     

Solubility of drugs in aqueous solutions. Part 3: multicomponent mixed solvent

The results obtained previously by Ruckenstein and Shulgin [Int. J. Pharm. 258 (2003a) 193; Int. J. Pharm. 260 (2003b) 283] via the fluctuation theory of solutions regarding the solubility of drugs in binary aqueous mixed solvents were extended in the present paper to multicomponent aqueous solvents. The multicomponent mixed solvent was considered to behave as an ideal solution and the solubility of the drug was assumed small enough to satisfy the infinite dilution approximation.An expression derived for the activity coefficient of a solid solute in a multicomponent solvent was used to obtain an equation for the solubility of a drug in terms of its solubilities in two subsystems of the multicomponent solvent and their molar volumes. Ultimately the solubility can be expressed in terms of those in binary or even in individual solvents and their molar volumes.The method was applied to the solubility of tioconazole and 19-Nor-1alpha,25-dihydrovitamin D(2) in several ternary and in a quaternary aqueous mixed solvents. The predicted solubilities were compared with experimental data and good agreement was found.     

Solubility of drugs in aqueous solutions. Part 1. Ideal mixed solvent approximation

The present paper deals with the application of the fluctuation theory of solutions to the solubility of poorly soluble drugs in aqueous mixed solvents. The fluctuation theory of ternary solutions is first used to derive an expression for the activity coefficient of a solute at infinite dilution in an ideal mixed solvent and, further, to obtain an equation for the solubility of a poorly soluble solid in an ideal mixed solvent. Finally, this equation is adapted to the solubility of poorly soluble drugs in aqueous mixed solvents by treating the molar volume of the mixed solvent as nonideal and including one adjustable parameter in its expression. The obtained expression was applied to 32 experimental data sets and the results were compared with the three parameter equations available in the literature.     

Solubility of drugs in aqueous solutions. Part 2: binary nonideal mixed solvent

As in a previous paper [Int. J. Pharm. 258 (2003) 193–201], the Kirkwood–Buff theory of solutions was employed to calculate the solubility of a solid in mixed solvents. Whereas in the former paper the binary solvent was assumed ideal, in the present one it was considered nonideal. A rigorous expression for the activity coefficient of a solute at infinite dilution in a mixed solvent [Int. J. Pharm. 258 (2003) 193–201] was used to obtain an equation for the solubility of a poorly soluble solid in a nonideal mixed solvent in terms of the solubilities of the solute in the individual solvents, the molar volumes of those solvents, and the activity coefficients of the components of the mixed solvent.

The Flory–Huggins and Wilson equations for the activity coefficients of the components of the mixed solvent were employed to correlate 32 experimental data sets regarding the solubility of drugs in aqueous mixed solvents. The results were compared with the models available in literature. It was found that the suggested equation can be used for an accurate and reliable correlation of the solubilities of drugs in aqueous mixed binary solvents. It provided slightly better results than the best literature models but has also the advantage of a theoretical basis.     

Nitrofurantoin solubility in aqueous urea and creatinine solutions.

Experiments were carried out to determine the effect of urea and creatinine on the solubility of nitrofurantoin in water at different temperature and pH conditions. The addition of urea to aqueous media increased nitrofurantoin solubility up to a maximum concentration level and then decreased solubility at higher urea concentrations. The amount of urea needed to bring about maximum nitrofurantoin solubility was dependent on temperature and ranged between 1.75 and 2.50%. Spectral studies suggest a possible interaction between urea and nitrofurantoin molecules. Nitrofurantoin solubility increased with an increasing creatinine concentration ranging from 0.05 to 1.6%. Spectral studies indicate a strong interaction between creatinine and nitrofurantoin molecules in solution. The combined effect of urea and creatinine of the solubility of nitrofurantoin could account for the absence of crystalluria with this drug, even though unusually high concentrations in urine have been reported.     

Contribution of solid-state properties to the aqueous solubility of drugs.

This study investigates the influence of the solid-state properties melting point (T(m)), enthalpy of melting (DeltaH(m)) and entropy of melting (DeltaS(m)) of a drug on its intrinsic solubility (S(0)). For this purpose, 26 chemically and structurally diverse drugs covering the oral drug space were selected and the S(0), T(m), DeltaH(m) and DeltaS(m) were determined experimentally. The influence of T(m), DeltaH(m) and DeltaS(m) on S(0) was studied using regression analysis. The overall improvement of the predictions were 0.3 log units, however, five compounds (astemizole, glyburide, fenbufen, gliclazide and griseofulvin) were improved by more than one log unit. T(m) and DeltaH(m) had a larger effect than DeltaS(m) on the solubility predictions. The well-known general solubility equation (GSE) and the Dannenfelser semi-empirical equation for the calculation of DeltaS(m) were evaluated using our data set. While predictions of drug solubility obtained using the GSE were acceptable, the use of the experimental DeltaS(m) values instead of the constant 56.5 J mol(-1)K(-1) improved the accuracy of the prediction. The Dannenfelser equation underestimated the DeltaS(m) for most compounds with on average 15 J mol(-1)K(-1). Our results show that solid-state properties should be considered for improved performance of future models for prediction of drug solubility. In addition our study provides accurate experimental data on intrinsic solubility for 26 compounds, supplying a useful external data set for validation of drug solubility models.     

Solubility of doxycycline in aqueous solution.

The solubility of doxycyline monohydrate and doxycycline hydrochloride dihydrate was investigated in aqueous solution. The hydrochloride dihydrate salt was isolated and identified from solutions initially containing doxycycline hyclate in water. The pKa' = 3.09 (mu = 0.1 and 25 degrees) for protonation of doxycycline was determined spectrophotometrically. The pH-solubility profiles were determined for doxycycline monohydrate in water and in 1.0 M NaNO3-HNO3 and NaCl-HCl. The pH-solubility profile at 25 degrees for doxycycline in aqueous hydrochloric acid without added salt reached a sharp maximum fo 50 mg/ml at pH 2.16. Added chloride ion strongly suppressed the solubility of the hydrochloride dihydrate salt. The apparent solubility product was not constant but decreased as the concentration of added salt increased. A theoretical model was developed involving dimerization of doxycycline and applied to the experimental data. The dimerization constant, Kd = 24 M-1, and true solubility product, K0sp = 1.8 X 10(-3) M2, were calculated. The effect of concentration on NMR and visible spectra indicated that dimerization resulted from intermolecular hydrogen bonding of the phenolic beta-diketone portion of the molecule.     

Thermodynamic modeling of activity coefficient and prediction of solubility: Part 1. Predictive models

A new activity coefficient model was developed from excess Gibbs free energy in the form G(ex) = cA(a) x(1)(b)...x(n)(b). The constants of the proposed model were considered to be function of solute and solvent dielectric constants, Hildebrand solubility parameters and specific volumes of solute and solvent molecules. The proposed model obeys the Gibbs-Duhem condition for activity coefficient models. To generalize the model and make it as a purely predictive model without any adjustable parameters, its constants were found using the experimental activity coefficient and physical properties of 20 vapor-liquid systems. The predictive capability of the proposed model was tested by calculating the activity coefficients of 41 binary vapor-liquid equilibrium systems and showed good agreement with the experimental data in comparison with two other predictive models, the UNIFAC and Hildebrand models. The only data used for the prediction of activity coefficients, were dielectric constants, Hildebrand solubility parameters, and specific volumes of the solute and solvent molecules. Furthermore, the proposed model was used to predict the activity coefficient of an organic compound, stearic acid, whose physical properties were available in methanol and 2-butanone. The predicted activity coefficient along with the thermal properties of the stearic acid were used to calculate the solubility of stearic acid in these two solvents and resulted in a better agreement with the experimental data compared to the UNIFAC and Hildebrand predictive models.     

Solubility and prediction of the heat of solution of sodium naproxen in aqueous solutions

The solubility of sodium naproxen was determined over a range of temperatures from 15.2 degrees C to 39.7 degrees C by two methods: analyses of samples from equilibrated solutions and a recently developed procedure utilizing a focused-beam reflectance method (FBRM). The results demonstrate the utility of the newer and, in some cases, simpler method. A discontinuity in the solubility was observed at 29.8 degrees C, identifying the temperature as which the dihydrate and anhydrous forms of sodium naproxen trade places as being the more stable of the two forms. The heats of solution for the two pseudopolymorphs were obtained from van't Hoff plots of the solubility data. These results were used to demonstrate how the heat of solution of one form can be estimated using the heat of dehydration obtained from differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and the heat of solution from another form.     

Estimation of the effect of NaCl on the solubility of organic compounds in aqueous solutions

The Setschenow constant, K(salt), of a nonelectrolyte in a NaCl solution is shown to be related to the logarithm of its octanol-water partition coefficient, log K(ow), determined by K(salt) = A log K(ow) + B, where K(ow) is the octanol-water partition coefficient of the solute and the coefficients A and B are constants. The values of A and B were empirically determined from literature data for 62 organic compounds and validated for a test set of 15 compounds including several drugs.     

Effect of hydrotalcite-like compounds on the aqueous solubility of some poorly water-soluble drugs

A new approach of improving drug dissolution properties is described. This method exploits the property of a carrier owing to the hydrotalcite-type anionic clays (HTlc). HTlc is an inorganic layered solid that lodges anionic compounds among its layers. As HTlc dissolves at acidic pH values (pH < 4), the anions intercalated among the layers are promptly released in the medium. In this article some nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs were chosen as models of poorly water-soluble drugs. They were intercalated in HTlc and solubility measurements in acidic medium were performed. A remarkable improvement of drug solubility was observed especially in the case of indomethacin.