Líquidos iónicos basados en principios activos farmacéuticos

Abstract

Aims: Salt formation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) improve their aqueous solubility, processing at industrial level, safety aspects and sometimes biological properties. The aim of the present review is to consider ionic liquids (ILs) based active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) as an alternative versatile tool in the pharmaceutical industry. Materials and Methods: ILs are the quaternary salts having melting point below 100 oC. The negative side effects of a given API can be treated by delivering it as an ionic liquid in which the counterion neutralizes the unwanted side effects. Ionic liquid form such as APIs pair for dual treatment therapies with synergistic rather than additive results is another approach. Recently, a major emphasis has been placed on ionic liquids as bearers of desired biological activity. In this context, the properties of the Ionic liquids can be tuned by judicious choice of cation(s) and anion(s). Results: Recent developments have shown that Ionic liquids have potential biological applications in drug delivery, particularly as APIs. Some examples of ionic liquids produced as APIs are described from literature which has at least one pharmaceutical active ion with improved biological activity over the precursor ions. The use of ionogels in sensing platforms clearly has several advantages over current technologies. ILs have considerable potential to provide advances in liquid formulation of protein pharmaceuticals. Conclusions: Pharmaceutical ionic liquids could provide another tool in drug development, design and delivery. Ionic liquid salts as APIs eliminate problems associated with the solid-state and exhibit synergistic physical and biological properties.